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Basic Steps For Securing Your WordPress Blog

The content management system WordPress is a free, open source blogging tool based on MySQL and PHP and is among the most used platforms by people who self-host their websites and blogs. Unfortunately people often try to invade and damage others' sites and accounts or place hidden links inside. You can, however, learn how to secure your WordPress blog or site from cyber attacks. With this basic WordPress security guide you can find some tips to help you protect your WordPress-based blogs and websites. One of the simplest WordPress security tips for protecting your blog from cyber attacks is to regularly update WordPress software, plugins, and themes. All software systems have vulnerabilities and are susceptible to bugs. These holes can be used by people with bad intentions to attack your website. Fortunately once a weakness is found software vendors will quickly fix them. By updating your software regularly you will increase your protection from a variety cyber attacks. The need to update is even more important for web-based software. There are many new versions of WordPress which are designed to automatically install all updates. Some of these programs also make the owners of the sites aware when there are available upgrades. Getting the latest version of WordPress can save you a lot of work and heartache. Ensuring your WordPress account has strong passwords is another way to protect your blogs and websites. You can make your passwords stronger by making sure they are unique and unusual and adding a secret key to your wp-config.php file. To ensure your WordPress password is strong, use a mix of lower and uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols, and stay away from popular phrases. There are even some programs which can automatically generate secure and complex passwords. Read More... The wp-config.php file holds the important information including the name, address, and MySQL database password that WordPress needs to store user information, blog posts, and various other types of data you need. An important step towards protecting your WordPress site is to use secret keys in your wp-config file. This can make it near impossible for hackers to access your account. If you need help setting up a secret key, click here to read how to edit a wp-config.php file. Keeping your .htaccess file in check is another key to protecting your WordPress blogs and sites. An .htaccess file helps you set limits on what users can have access to certain directories. By limiting this access to a specific IP address you make it a lot easier to protect your WordPress supported sites and blogs. One easy way hackers are able to penetrate WordPress supported sites are through file permissions which are too lax. A simple way to secure your site is by making sure your permissions are appropriate. The appropriate permissions are outlined in the WordPress Codex. You can use an FTP client or your web host's administrative page to access and change your file and directory permissions. I also use a great plugin called Security Ninja that performs 26 different security tests on your WordPress blog and provides very helpful instructions on fixing any vulnerabilities that were found. For only $10, it's a worthwhile purchase that provides some much-needed peace of mind. These are but a few basic WordPress security tips. The ideas listed in this WordPress security guide can go a long way towards protecting your website.