Making your WordPress Blog More Secure

WordPress has become one of the most popular platforms for people to self-host their blogs and websites. Even though WordPress is pretty secure right out of the box, there are always going to be people who want to make trouble with things by finding a way to crack into accounts or sites so they can cause damage or even inject hidden their own links to spam or something else just as sinister. That’s why it’s important that you make sure that your WordPress installation is secure as humanly possible.

Here are a few tips to keep your WordPress website or blog more secure and a lot less susceptible to malicious attacks.

1. Update Your Software

Nothing in your software is immune to bugs and other vulnerabilities. It’s not a question as to whether, but when security holes are going to be discovered by the bad guys. When you keep your software up-to-date, you will stave off attacks, because reliable software vendors fix their products whenever security holes are found.

Staying on top of updates is a must. And keeping your WordPress site up-to-date is actually one of the easiest things you can do. WordPress includes the ability to install automatic updates and sites are notified each time a new upgrade becomes available.

Be sure to upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. Leaving your site with an old version is like keeping your door unlocked when leaving on your vacation.

2. Use Strong Account Passwords

Consider changing your user password to something strong and unique. WordPress will tell you how strong your password is, but a good tip is that you should keep from using common phrases, use some upper and lower case letters, and put in some numbers. Plus, change your password regularly, at least every six months.

If you use a program like 1Password for Mac or Windows, you can store your password in your browser securely and also generate complex and secure passwords on the fly, which makes changing your passwords less of a chore.

3. Use Secret Keys for your WP-Config File

In WordPress, the wp-config.php file stores the database information WordPress needs so it can connect to everything. This file contains information about your MySQL database, your user info, blog posts and other important things regarding your content.

When you use a secret key, you make it much more difficult for anyone else to gain access to your account.

4. Keep Your Htaccess File Properly in Check

Using an .htaccess file, it’s easy to set access limits to particular directories. You can tie those limits to any specific IP address you like, letting only people from that location capable of accessing your information.

5. Know Your File Permissions

Hackers will often gain access to your site when you’ve left files or folders open with permissions that are actually much too liberal.

Depending on how you originally installed WordPress, or what the default practices are from your web host, the permissions for your files and folders that WordPress installs may not be as appropriate as they should be.

The WordPress Codex has an outline of what permissions are acceptable. File and directory permissions can be changed either via an FTP client or within the administrative page from your web host. Other pages detail more about how file permissions work, and how you can change them using a number of different systems.

This guide is just a brief overview and not meant to be the absolute, finally, all-inclusive word on making WordPress secure, but it’s a KEY toward the right path to making your WordPress blog more secure both today as well as in the future. Safe blogging!

Author Bio: Robin, I am Blogger at keydifference. My area of expertise is SEO, SMO.