subject: Easy Steps On Making Your Website Hack Proof [print this page] The best imaginable way how to secure your website is to take some action steps to prevent possible attacks. Here are some basic recommendations.
Strong Passwords
Use a combination of characters, numbers and special characters in the passwords. If possible, don't use easy to guess administration account names, like 'admin', 'administrator' or 'root'. And make sure your passwords and user names are strong, not easy to guess, at least 8-character long password.
Back Up
Regularly back up all the data. Don't forget, that your data are not only in the database (e.g. Wordpress database), but also on your server file system. You should back up those files too. It's usually OK to back up every week, but if you update your website frequently (e.g. you're running a busy blog), backup every day. It is not that complex, there are many tools that can help you.
If you are running a WordPress blog, it is easy to install "WP-DB-Backup" or "WP-Dbmanager" plugins that help you backup your database automatically. Just set it and forget it. They will email you the backup file of your website every day or every week. Use also "WordPress Backup" plugin that will back up the files on the server (yes, I know, those plug-in's names are almost identical). This plugin works the same way as the previous ones - just set it and forget it.
Updates
The easiest way to stay at an advantage is to make sure you are using the latest versions of the products (e.g. the latest version of your WordPress). This way all the known errors and security difficulties are fixed there.
However, this is a double-edged sword. The major software upgrade usually has many new code, thus a lot of potentiality for security problems. So the safest way is to use older major software version with all the security fixes.
For example, the latest major version line of WordPress is now v. 2.9, and the newest fix version (minor version) is 2.9.2. The previous major version was 2.8, with the newest fix 2.8.6. This version (2.8.6.) could be the good, stable version to use.
Recovery
When your website or blog was hacked, first, do not panic. If you have your data properly backed up, you didn't lose much. Contact your webmaster to help with the recovery. It is also good to contact the hosting company. They probably already took some steps to prevent the hacks or even made some actions to recover your files.
WP-Dbmanager plugin also offers the easy database recovery option, so you can recover the database easily. However, make sure your other files are OK too. The hacker attack can have different forms. Sometimes the website is only changed at some places, sometimes all the files are messed up, sometimes the whole database and file system gets deleted. If you do not have your data backed up, there is nothing you can do, so be sure you have your back up system up today.
Change Passwords
Replace all the names and passwords and all the access data for the new installation during the recovery. And if you used the same names and passwords somewhere else, replace them there too. As you can see, the recovery is not that easy. When building a business website make sure your hard work is not lost. So make sure your website gets backed-up occasionally.
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