How To Increase Your Blogs Security? (Top 10 Tips To Follow)

Every day, unscrupulous copycats and professional hackers cruise the internet looking for security loopholes in websites. 

What’s more dangerous is that they may even inject malware to attack your website which might erase or even alter your data. Additionally, they might well divert your website visitors to their platform unethically.

There are thousands of hacking cases reported online every day, but shockingly, not many people seem to be worried about this concern. We recommend you do not presume that your blog is unaffected by such attacks. Instead, take efficient measures to resolve this issue. 

Content theft should also be a significant problem area, particularly in the blogging community where originality is highly regarded. So, if you have not worked on your blog’s security yet, follow this blog to get started- read on! 

 

WHY BLOG SECURITY IS IMPORTANT?

Before we understand the steps required to make your blog secure, let us first understand why is it needed in the first place. 

Every website is vulnerable to assault at any time, and anywhere. This is true because when hackers intend to carry out an attack, they do not have a particular website in mind. Cyber-criminals employ software to automatically find vulnerable websites.

In order to launch an attack against that specific website, these vulnerabilities are leveraged as points of entry.

Your host will notify you if there is malware on your website, but it might not tell you to know if there are vulnerabilities once these hackers enter your site, the security breach will put you at risk for a lot of unfortunate things mentioned below:

 

Malicious Activities 

Your site will be open to identity theft, ransomware, server failures, and a long list of other unfortunate things. Thereafter, any of these activities, as you can understand, would be a waste of time, effort, and money, and would not be good for the reputation of your company.

  

SEO Scores 

Secondly, Everyone aspires to appear higher in search engine rankings (SERPs). More visibility results in more visits. And making your site secure is fortunately one of the ways to increase the likelihood that Google will like it. 

Wondered- “why?”

Because a searchable website is one that is secure. In fact, Google and other search engines’ visibility is directly impacted by WordPress security. Therefore, one of the simplest ways to improve your search ranking is through security. 

 

Customer Relationships

Another reason is that your visitors” expect” it! If you can’t offer this basic service right away, you’ll damage your customers’ faith in you. Whether it’s their contact information, payment information (which necessitates PCI compliance), or simply a basic response to a survey, it’s crucial that your customers trust that their information is utilized and stored properly.

 

Takeaway

So, keeping all the aforementioned reasons in mind, clearly, every effective website needs security. This applies to companies of all shapes, sizes, and reputations.

 

 

How To Make Your Blogs Or website More Secure?

Until now, we assume that you are aware of the need for a safe website and are prepared to start implementing security measures, right? 

Let’s dive in!

 

Top 10 Methods To Make Your Website More Secure

 

1. Do Not Settle For Less, Make Sure You Have a GOOD Host

I’m sure you must have heard some pretty terrifying host-related horror stories. Including when hosts unintentionally delete sites or when hosts shut down blogs that have been hacked without informing the blog owner!

Whatever you do, be certain that the host you give your “baby” to is someone you can trust and who takes “security” seriously. 

This is even more important if you use a shared server. Even if you take every precaution, if another user on your shared server is careless with security, hackers can still be able to access your server through that blogger’s website. This is scary, isn’t it? 

Pro Tip: Check out the security precautions your host takes to safeguard your website, and if you’re not satisfied with them, you might want to consider switching hosts.

 

2. Add A Security Plugin If You Haven’t Already!

While a decent web host can do a lot to safeguard your website, you also need a security plugin too. This is a must!

If you are using WordPress, here is a list of plugins for you to consider:

• WordFence Security
• Sucuri
• Security Ninja
• Defender
• iThemes Security
• All In One WP Security and Firewall
• BulletProof Security
• Jetpack

and many more security plugins are readily available online. What’s more interesting is that the setup is not too difficult as well. 

You just need to simply download the plugin from the plugin repository and then make the necessary adjustments on each page, simple! 

It shows you which settings you shouldn’t change until you are sure what you are doing and explains each one in an easy-to-understand language.

 

3. Use SSL

In technical terms, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a standard security protocol that establishes an encrypted connection between a server (such as a website or mail server) and a client (such as a browser or mail client like Outlook).

4. Do Not Forget To Create A Backup!

For your websites, threats can even go beyond hackers. You might occasionally be even more of a problem than someone else can. For instance, installing the incorrect plugin or module can harm the site’s regular operations. However, backup in such a case will help you restore everything back. 

Additionally, new updates can occasionally harm your website. It may not be appropriate for your website, it may be overloaded, there may not be enough memory, or your website may not be compatible with these.

However, not updating is also not an option, though. This is because, if not updated, your website becomes vulnerable to viruses and hacking. In this scenario, the significance of website backups is to guarantee that you can always restore your site, no matter what. So, clearly, creating a backup of your site is imperative for its security! 

 

5. Limit The Login Tries

Some websites limit the number of login tries a user can attempt. You must have seen this on some websites, especially, those related to the banking sector, right? 

By doing this, you can stop hackers and malicious bots from brute forcing your login page and getting access. Yes, you heard it right! It really helps to make your website secure. A temporary lockout deters a bot and forces it to leave your site. 

Technically speaking, bots employ a brute force attack when they try thousands of username and password combinations. The bot contacts your web server each time this happens and your web server makes resources available for your website’s operations, including login requests.

As a result, a bot can overload your server and cause it to crash by flooding it with thousands of requests in a single minute. This means visitors will momentarily be unable to access your website as well! Therefore, limiting the number of logins tries not only prevents traffic surges but also server crashes. 

 

6. A Strong Username And A Password

A robust password assists you by Keeping your private information secure, keeping your files, emails, and other stuff secure, and preventing unauthorized access to your account. 

So, if you haven’t chosen a password that is difficult to decode, it’s time you do!

Here are some tips to create a strong username and password: 

• Do not use consecutive numbers or alphabets (123, abc, etc)
• Do not include your name, date of birth, or even your mobile number. This can be detected easily.
• Use a combination of at least 8-9 letters, numbers, and symbols.
• Do not try to make sense, just combine unrelated words to form a secure password
• Do not re-use your credentials, make them unique

 Another important tip is- DO NOT SHARE YOUR CREDENTIALS. Try to avoid disclosing your login information unless it is absolutely required. But if you do, make sure it’s someone you can trust (like your VA or website designer). Never give your admin access to an unauthorized user. If possible, give them their own login with restricted access to your website.

 

7. Keep Changing Your Credentials

Make sure to frequently change your passwords and login page URL, it is a good habit! It is even more crucial if you’ve shared your credentials with someone else. 

Change all the passwords you shared with them and the URL of your login page after the person has completed the task you need them to. Who knows where or what that person might have done with your personal information? 

5 Times When You Should Change Your Password

• After a security breach– You should update your password if you have experienced an attack or a breach. It is safer to assume that your password is no longer secure when a business informs you that there has been a data breach.
• At time of unauthorized Access– If you think someone else may have access. Waiting until there is obvious proof that you have been hacked is not advisable. Usually, it’s too late by then. Change your password as quickly as you can if you believe someone has tried to access something or if you get a notification via email that someone not authorized has signed into one of your accounts on a new device. 
• If You Find Phishing Software or Other Malware- Your computer and your entire network could be at risk in this case. If you find such software, you should perform a scan and change your passwords right away! ( Ideally from a separate device than the one on which the virus was identified). 
• If You have logged in to public areas– After using a public network or the library, update your password. This way, you may safely follow your digital footprint more safely. 
• Common Access: Change your passwords as frequently as you can if you have shared your login details with someone you no longer communicate with.

Therefore, keep updating your credentials frequently to be on the safer side.

 

8. Check The Plugins You Use

Another factor resulting in a security breach may also be the plugins you install. Use only well-known, reliable plugins that are supported and updated frequently. 

Listed below are some steps to check the security of your plugins.

• Testing all input areas on the plugin
• Checking requests made by the plugin
• Checking the source code
• Understanding the permissions and data storage on the plugin
• Checking data validation and sanitization
• Checking data escaping / secure output
• Analysis of code to check security issues in early SDLC

Checking plugin security in run-time by doing Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST).

Every day, hundreds of websites and organizations are impacted by plugin exploits. a number of which never fully recover from a cyber attack’s consequences and finally shut down. Cyber-attacks have a severe impact on your company’s brand and customers’ trust.

 Therefore, it is essential that you constantly undertake a thorough plugin security audit or plugin security assessment to discover and fix security issues in your plugin in order to protect yourself and your plugin from this hardship.

 

9. A Firewall Is A Must

A firewall is a piece of hardware or network security software that serves as a filter to prevent unwanted access to your network and personal information on your website. 

You should install a firewall to guard your website against harmful software that might get access to it via the internet. 

A firewall operates by evaluating a website in accordance with pre-established regulations. It keeps track of all tries to access your website and bans any information that doesn’t fit its set of requirements. 

When you protect your website using a firewall, only reputable IP addresses and sources can access it. That is, a firewall only allows the traffic that it has been set up to receive. 

For example, you can set up a firewall to only permit pertinent and significant data to flow through while blocking traffic from particular locations and apps.

 

10. Configure Your CMS The Correct Way

The majority of website attacks are fully automated. Many attack bots rely on users leaving their CMS settings on default, which is what users generally do! 

You must change your default settings immediately after you pick your CMS. This can prevent a high number of attacks. 

If you are wondering what changes can you do? These include the changes to regulate comments, user visibility, and permissions. 

You can even modify a file’s permissions to designate who can do what to it. 

Each file has three different permissions, each of which is represented by a different number: 

• View the file contents with “Read”(4).
• Change the file’s contents with “Write”(2).
• ‘Execute'(1): Start the script or application.

To be more specific, add the numbers together if you want to grant numerous permissions. For instance, you might set the user permission to 6 to enable read (4) and write (2). 

There are three other user types in addition to the basic file permission settings: 

• Owner – Usually, the file’s original creator, though ownership can be modified. At any given time, only one user may be the owner.
• Group: A group is given to each file. Users who belong to that particular group will have access to its permissions.
• The general public: others

So, always customize the user and permission settings mentioned above. If you continue to use the default settings, you might eventually experience website security difficulties. 

 

CONCLUSION

As a business owner and webmaster, you can’t just create a website and disregard it. Although website development has become easier than before, it’s still crucial to prioritize its security.

To ensure the protection of your business and customers’ data, it’s essential to be proactive consistently. User’s personal information or online payments submitted through your site must be handled securely.

Follow our tips mentioned above in this article to secure your website, and let us know your favorite tip discussed so far.

Let us know some topics you would like to read next, and we will be happy to serve you!