5 Measures You Should Take To Secure Your Website Today

How long have you been blogging now? 1 year? 2? 3? 5?

Okay, how will you feel if your blog that you’ve been building for several years suddenly disappears overnight? No, you didn’t sell it. Instead, it was stolen from you. How will you feel?

I’m not sure about you, but I know I won’t be happy about it. In fact, if necessary, I’ll even cry about it.

Let’s Face the Reality

The reality is that it is very difficult to get your website back once it has been stolen from you. It is very difficult for your host, even, let alone yourself.

In this case scenario, the best solution isn’t to wait for your website to be stolen. It is to be proactive; it is to take necessary measures to protect it before even the weakest hacker can spell it out loud.

How do you do that, then? This article will be giving you 5 measures you should take today to secure your website.

1. Change Your Passwords Regularly

Don’t just rely on using the same password for all your website accounts, because that will eventually end up implicating you.

Make sure you constantly change your blog passwords, and make sure you don’t use the same password for all your accounts.

Ideally, I’ll recommend that you change your password every 3 months, but this can be different depending on your preference and other measures you have in place.

One thing is important, though, don’t use a single password for more than a year at any point in time.

2. Create a Backup Account to Prevent Eventualities

Another approach I take that has been very effective is to have more than one account; in other words, it is to have backup accounts.

The idea is simple; my main account can be hacked anytime, but do I have a backdoor to take control again?

By having more than one admin account, I can easily login again and take over in case my main account has been hacked.

It is important to be careful when utilizing this strategy, too, because it isn’t as easy as it seems.

The more accounts you have, the more options hackers have to get to you, so make sure you’re careful and that every means of accessing your blog is properly secured.

3. Backup Your Website Regularly

While you can take every measure possible to secure your blog, there is still no guarantee that it won’t be hacked one day.

Your best solution in a case like this is to back up your website regularly.

Install solid wordpress backup plugins like Backup Buddy, and backup your whole website manually every once in a while if it is possible.

Having a solid backup of your website will always protect you, but not having it can be disastrous even if you end up regaining your hacked website.

4. Limit the Number of Plugins You Use on Your Blog

Another approach you should take is to limit the total number of plugins you use on your blog.

Most hackers are able to get into the blog of unsuspecting victims due to a bug in one plugin they installed, and it is only a matter of time before they realize what has happened.

Make sure you don’t use more plugins than are necessary, and always make sure you update your plugin regularly; if a particular plugin hasn’t been updated in a long time, then it is probably a sign that you shouldn’t use it in the first place.

5. Hide Main Folders from the Public

Another way you can protect your blog from being hacked, that many people ignore is to hide certain folders from being seen by the public.

Depending on who and how you installed your blog some of these folders will be visible to the public, and as a result can be used to hack your website. But by hiding them, you will be eliminating another means of hacking your blog.

Some of these folders are your plugin folder, your “wp-content folder”, and your root folder. The availability of these folders to the public will only create problems, but you will reduce your chances of being hacked by getting rid of them.

John is an expert at helping people secure websites. He also writes about adsl2+ for Broadband Expert.