I personally have not had anyone hack my blog. Which I am very happy about! But it is a really big deal when it happens. I want you to know how to make your blog secure from hackers.
Why do they want to hack your blog?
- sometimes just for sport
- they want to steal your site from you
- they want to insert all their spammy links in places you might not notice
- they want to redirect your site to theirs
There are many, many techy things you can do to make your blog secure. But I’m not so techy, and so I am going to discuss the three things you absolutely must do as a blogger for security.
How to Secure Your Site from Hackers
Change your Username
When you blog is installed, you get an automatic username login. It is Admin for everyone. So, it simply must be changed. If you don’t change that, you are just leading the hacker into your site. Everyone knows to try Admin first…because hundreds of thousands of bloggers don’t change it!
Change your Password
You hear this everywhere on the web, and it is not different here. You are being very risky if you don’t set a difficult password.
Install Login Lockdown Plugin
This plugin is your vault. It puts a stop to hackers all over the world. Hackers have sophisticated software that allows them to guess passwords and try thousands of options until they get into your site! But the Login Lockdown plugin is simple…it limits any attempts to get into your site by the amount you determine. I set mine to 5. I know you are saying, “Well, sometimes it takes me more than 5 tries to remember my own password.” Lol! I know! So set it at 10. But make a really good password that can’t be guessed in 10 guesses by a hacker!
Like I mentioned before, there are SO MANY more things you can do to secure your blog…or you can get a developer to do. But this is the first step, and an absolutely necessary step.
What to do if you get hacked?
Call your host immediately. If you can’t login to your blog, if your blog address leads to another site, or if you notice some of your links have been changed, you need to drop everything you are doing and get it fixed ASAP.
Are you still not convinced that it is necessary? Read this by Ramshackle Glam: My Website Was Stolen By A Hacker. And I Got It Back. I think most of us would have given up before we did the risky things she did! Don’t let it happen to you!
Great post on blog hacks. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks Henrico!
There are tons of things you can do. I would try my best not to confuse with tech-savy things.
Use Complex Password
Use alphanumeric, special characters and spacing in your password.
For Example : abc$%^45 6
Use lengthy Password
Your password should not consists of words. Instead, they should be made of phrases or sentences.
For Example : iamgoingtoschool
If you can’t memorise long sentences, just remember the first letter of every word. Such as for previous password, just remember iagts
Later you can re-generate your password.
i i
a am
g going
t to
s school
Last Advice
Your password should never be related to yourself. For example, don’t use your birth date or role number as a password. Because they are easy to guess.
I hope it helps you guys 🙂
Thanks for these ideas!
You are Welcome 🙂
Thank you for addressing key concerns and how to handle them. I never thought about the username “Admin” being a common issue, but it makes sense. Many times I think, “I’ll go back and change that later.” No, do it now.
Yay Brooke! Always better to have good security measures!
Using strong passwords and avoiding obvious usernames (like the default “admin”) are SO important.
Another really, REALLY important thing is to keep your software up to date as well as keeping any themes and plugins up to date. Most hacks happen because of a security hole in an old version of a plugin or other software. I freak out when I find that a new client’s WordPress site is still running on a version from 2 years ago.
If you find that you’re having serious problems with attempted hacks, or you’re seeing a spike in suspicious traffic from Russia or China (when your website content is targeted for a local city in the U.S., for example), it might be time to investigate a firewall. I recently invested in the yearly service that Sucuri offers: https://sucuri.net I’ve had my blog since 2006, and was starting to have some major issues with attempted attacks slowing down my site but ever since they’ve set up a firewall, my site performance has improved tremendously.