Protect Your Membership Blog From Hackers
Have you considered that your membership site could be compromised by an online hacker
? Could they be redirecting your site? Could they be stealing valuable information and content?
Unfortunately, the answer is yes it's possible, and it's even more likely if you don't protect your blog.
Currently, there are over 22 million installations of WordPress around the world. That's equal to the amount of people in Australia, to give you an idea of numbers. With such a large amount of users, it's no wonder that hackers view this group as such a tempting target.
WordPress hacker attacks usually come in two forms. Either they'll steal your data (such as membership lists & e-mails for spamming) or alter your site in an unwanted way. This could include changing the content of your site, modifying it so visitors will be infected with malicious software, or simply redirecting your domain to another site.
Of course, many hackers can and will do a combination of attacks if possible.
How can you stop hackers attacking your site? While no method will completely protect you from hackers, some simple steps can be taken that will greatly reduce your chances and make it more difficult for them.
In a future article, I'll describe more sophisticated ways to protect your blog but the methods below, while simple, are very effective in stopping most attacks.
The quickest and easiest step is to pick an uncommon username and password. The most popular (and easily guessed) passwords are simple strings of numbers (123456). The word "Password" itself is another common choice. You want to select a password with letters AND numbers.
Taking a memorable sentence or phrase and turning it into a password is a great trick. For example, "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" could become "tqbfjotld". Add the year of your birth at the end if you like so you'll get "tqbfjotld1972". Nobody's going to guess that password! The sentence is easy to remember but if you have to, you can always write down the sentence since it's only a clue to your password and someone miles away from you isn't going to see it.
Also, don't forget to change it regularly. As for the username, "admin" is the most common choice for this option. If you've already picked it (or something easily guessed), ask your hosting company how you can get it changed. You may have a control panel that will allow you to change it easily. Even something simple like "Mary1972" is better than "admin".
Backing up your WordPress database is another good idea. While it won't keep the hackers out of your blog, it will give you something to fall back on if your site is altered. After all you wouldn't want to trust the data after it's been compromised. Another option is to contact your hosting company and ask them to revert your site to how it was before the attack if you don't have a backup. A charge may occur for this service, depending on your hosting company, but it is an option.
The last suggestion involves your own computer. All the security measures you have for your WordPress blog, won't matter if you're infected with a keylogger (a program to copy keystrokes) or similar virus. Make sure to run a virus scan every day. Schedule it for when you're sleeping if you like. If you don't have a virus scanner, there are plenty of good free ones out there. Grisoft's AVG, Alwil's Avast, and Avira's AntiVir Personal are all great choices. You can even go to Trendmicro.com and use their free online anti-virus scanner as well.
So, now you have some easy ways to protect your membership site (and your revenue). Keep an eye out for even more tips in another article on how to protect your WordPress blog from hacker attacks.
by: Stu McLaren
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