Top 7 Tips for Maximum Blog Protection

If you plan to make a living off your blog, you better be sure that you’ve got everything covered – from fresh ideas and inspiration to security checkups. Your blog is the way your readers and the rest of the world get to know you and your perspective, which is why every aspect of it must be in check..

Often young bloggers neglect the security of their work until something bad happens and they have to deal with it.

The thing with internet security is that prevention is your best friend. You should take precautions and protect your intellectual property before you have to deal with unpleasant situations caused by hackers.

Fortunately, getting your security to a higher level isn’t that hard a feat and here are top seven tips for maximum blog protection.

1.     Start with Your Computer – Use Antivirus

Everything is connected and whether you like it or not, the security of your laptop, smartphone or desktop is closely connected with the security of your blog. If you don’t put enough effort to secure your device against security breaches, then you’re momentarily risking someone hacking your blog as well.

It is quite easy to obtain a trustworthy antivirus program and even if you don’t feel like paying for it, there are some quite good providers like Avast and AVG that offer free versions of their security software free of charge.

Our recommendation is to consider paying for antivirus because $40 or so a year isn’t a fortune and you do get a lot of additional features that will definitely make both your device and your blog more secure.

...Consider paying for antivirus because $40 or so a year isn’t a fortune and you do get a lot of additional features that will definitely make both your device and your blog more secure.Click To Tweet

2.    Update Your System and Hosting Regularly

While updates might seem unnecessary and boring to you, rest assured that their role in your blog’s security is important. OS updates and even more importantly platform updates are what keeps you safe from the newest security loopholes that are automatically fixed once you’ve updated it to the latest version.

Hackers sniff out security outdated blogs very quickly and you’re practically leaving the door open for them to walk right in. The trick is that with every update comes the list of bugs that has been fixed with it and for cybercriminals that is like a map telling them exactly where to strike to bring the security down.

So don’t risk your blog’s security and update your website platform as soon as an update shows up.

3.     Take Care of Usernames and Passwords

Let’s get one thing straight right away – you don’t want, under any circumstances for the username on your blog to be ‘admin’. By doing that, you’ve cut hacker’s job in half because he doesn’t even have to try and crack it, as that is the most obvious username of all time.

Be imaginative and come up with a username that isn’t easily cracked and the same goes for your passwords. Dates, parents’ names, pet names, even the name of your first crush will be cracked in a matter of seconds, especially if you’ve written it down in lowercase.

For the passwords to work and be hard to break, it’s important to have letters, numbers and symbols mixed in it, which will give the cybercriminal a lot more work than they signed up for and a lot of times, they will just give up altogether.

4.     Use a VPN When on Public Networks

If one of the main reasons why you’ve started a blog is so that you are not stuck working in an office, then your blog is going everywhere you go, along with your laptop. The good news is that in most parts of the world, internet is not that hard to come by, the bad news is that public networks are rarely safe for managing your sensitive data or your blog for that matter.

Public Wi-Fi is unprotected nine out of ten times, which is why hackers use it as fishing net for undoubting internet users. The most secure way to protect yourself from these attacks is to always connect to public networks with a virtual private network that will encode all your activities and make it impossible for cybercriminals to take advantage of them. There are dozens of VPN providers to choose from and some of them can offer you solid security on public networks.

Be sure to do your research before you decide which VPN you want to choose, because there’s a lot to choose from and not all of them are trustworthy.

5.    Don’t Forget about Your Email

How much confidential information does your email store?

And how much of it you wouldn’t mind falling into the wrong hands?

We often don’t think that someone, by getting access to our email gains access to our social media accounts, bank accounts and naturally, our blog. Your email should be protected (which can be arranged with premium antivirus versions) by a strong password, which is changed regularly.

Also, to add an extra layer of security for your blog, it would be wise to set a separate email account that will be connected strictly to your blog. If you use that email only for blogging purposes, your risks of someone hacking it are smaller and you will have some peace of mind.

6.     Use Security Plugins on Your Blog Platform

If you’re using WordPress as a platform for your blog, then you’ve got a plethora of security add-ons and tools to choose from that will protect your blog at all times. Just like with VPN however, you need to be sure that what you’re using on your platform is safe and not a malware posing a security plugin.

Do your research and be sure to only download plugins that are well received from users and have good reviews. Also, the general advice is to download these tools from trusted sources, and with WP that is WP directory.

That way, you’re not risking anything fishy going on and you’re sure that what you’re getting is a safe product.

7.    Protect Your Mobile Devices As Well

One of the best things about having a blog is that you can manage it well even when you’re on the go, but that can become a big security issue if you’re not careful. It is important to protect every device through which you access your blog because malware on one of them can cause big problems, from identity theft to cyber criminals disturbing your readers.

Your smartphone and your tablet should also be security fortresses just as much as your laptop, because they’re access points to your blog as well.

Blogging is one the most interesting and open jobs you can have nowadays and if you play your cards well, you can achieve a lot. Just bear in mind that the security of your blog is one of its key components and never underestimate the power of prevention when you’re online. –  By Thomas Milva

Thomas Milva is 28, he lives in Baton Rouge and is a dedicated Analyst of Information Security, which is why he moved to Baton Rouge, where he lives now and he loves it. Thanks to being so good at his job, Tom also landed a position of consultant writer at wefollowtech.com. He’s got Italian ancestry and is very fond of his pets, Reggie the dog and his two goldfish. Thomas mostly works from home, which is why he’s contemplating adopting another dog