Platforms like WordPress have made it simple for anyone to build and run their own website or blog. It seems that everyone from teens to seniors and everyone in between is blogging nowadays – some for a fun hobby and others as a source of supplemental (or primary) income.
I’ve built several websites with WordPress over the years, but I never put much thought or effort into security – until my sites were hacked. Suddenly, I needed to clean up the mess and figure out how to reduce the risk of my sites being hacked again.
Are you a blogger that runs your own WordPress site? Have you taken any steps to avoid a compromise of your website that could result in the unavailability of your blog, financial loss, or lead to privacy issues like identity theft?
One of the first things I do when setting up a new WP blog is install a plug-in called Wordfence Security. Wordfence gives your website anti-virus, firewall and malware scanning capabilities that work together to secure your site from hackers. Wordfence is free but offers a premium paid version with additional features. I’m sure there are a number of other solutions like this available but Wordfence is what I trust to do the job. (This is in no way an advertisement for this plugin – it’s just what I happen to know and use on my own websites and blogs.)
Ready to secure your blog?
How to Install the Wordfence Plugin
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New > and search for Wordfence. Click Install Now.
After activating the plugin, you will need to configure Wordfence so it can begin monitoring your blog for malicious activity. There are several options to setup but the plugin will walk you through the steps.
After the initial setup, Wordfence works in the background and will notify you via email if any issues are detected on your website. If your site gets a lot of traffic or is quite popular (i.e. a more interesting target for hackers) you might consider upgrading to the premium version or adding other tools for multiple layers of security.
I’d be happy to answer any questions that our readers have about securing a personal website or blog. It’s not quite rocket science but if you haven’t done it before, I can show you where to get started.
Stay safe, fellow bloggers.
