5 Ways to Minimize Those Pesky Hackers on Your Blog
There is an ongoing, sustained attack on WordPress blogs going on right now.
You don’t have to blog for long before you are introduced to the world of hacking. Brute force password attempts are happening at an alarming rate.
Don’t think that just because your blog still has a small audience that you are not on the radar screen of a potential hacker. Understanding how to secure and protect your blog is an important aspect of building a successful blog.
You should want to protect all that hard work you have done, right?
Let me offer you a few simple steps you can take right now to better protect your blog. These are steps we have implemented in protecting our blogs and recommend that you do the same.
1. Stay up to date with the latest WordPress updates
I’ve been known to procrastinate on the little WordPress update bar that shows up in the top of my dashboard. Some of the updates that WordPress offers are security updates. By staying up to date, you can eliminate some potential vulnerabilities on your site.
2. Use a plugin called Limit Login Attempts in order to better secure your blog
I’d encourage you to pause reading this blog post right now and go install the Limit Login Attempts plugin. It is free and it will limit the number of attempts that someone can use to guess your password. It is a simple step and it is highly useful.
3. Do a a quick audit of the users on your site
Once you are logged into your WordPress dashboard, go click on “users” in the left column. Make sure there aren’t any users you don’t expect, and that you don’t have a lot of unused accounts. Hackers have been known to create their own user account once they break into your site.
4. Make sure you’re using strong passwords
Here is a mistake that many bloggers make. They still use “admin” as their username. If that is you, then go create a new user and pick a better username. Many hackers go with “admin” for the username and then they try to use brute force to guess the password. Limiting their attempts, like mentioned earlier, will better protect you. Also, use a password that is a bit harder to break by using numbers and letters or even capital letters.
5. Keep an eye out for suspicious activity
Be aware of funny things that might appear on your site. Most of the time, hackers are looking to stay below the radar. Maybe they want to add a bunch of links to the footer of your blog in order to try to gain links back to certain sites (in an attempt to boost their search engine rankings). Doing an occasional review of your site is a good thing to do.
Question: What are some steps you have taken to better protect your blog from potential hackers? Please share your insights below.
