Tips To Keep Your Wordpress Site Safe & Secure

[NathanielB]

Ok so we get posts from time to time with people asking what they can do to help combat spam comments, stop hackers from gaining access and messing up wordpress and how to remove what's been hacked etc. So I thought I would share some of the plugins I use to help keep my blogs a little safer and more secure from these things (some of you may know the list already from the Jackets forum, but not all can see that so that's why I have redone the list here with some slight changes).

First of all here's a list of all the plugins I have installed to help me with spam and security:

• Akismet - aint spam
• CommentLuv
• AntiVirus
• Exploit Scanner
• Secure WordPress
• TimesToCome Security Plugin
• WebsiteDefender WordPress Security
• Wordpress Firewall 2
• WP Security Scan
• Spam Karma 2 Blacklist Ban
• Spammer Blocker
• WP-Ban-User

I know its a rather long list of security plugins, but I have been hacked in the past and so I now make sure I cover everything with all those because it can be a pain to under what hackers do and needlessly wastes a lot of time!


You can also have a read of the following links to give your blog some more extra added protection:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress - A great article showing you many ways to protect different files etc - A must read!
http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions - This one will tell you all about changing file permissions (I believe one of the above plugins also helps with this)
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2...s-more-secure/ - This is simply a great article with lots of great information

You may also find these plugins of value, I have them installed on all my blogs to save time and keep everything running much better because they do most of the work for me:

• Advanced Excerpt
• Google Analytics for WordPress
• Social Sharing Toolkit
• Subscribe widget
• Twitter Tools
• Open external links in a new window
• Next Scripts: Social Networks Auto Poster
• cbnet Ping Optimizer
• Custom Contact Forms
• Slick Contact Forms
• Dashboard: Pending Review
• Exec-PHP
• Facebook Like Thumbnail
• Feed Statistics
• List Authors
• WP Missed Schedule

If anyone has any other plugins to add to my list let me know because I would love to give em a test to see how well they stand up against what I already use

[NathanielB]

A little off topic, but My Blog Guest has released a new plugin to make finding and publishing guest posts a lot faster, so head over to http://myblogguest.com/blog/1632, have a read and create your account today if you aint already got one (which you should by now)!

I have been giving the plugin a good test drive on my personal blog, and its been great to use, simple, easy and fast! I even got two guest posts published within 20min of installing the plugin!

Have a read of my review at http://www.nathanielbailey.co.uk/201...n-a-must-have/ which I will be adding to in the next couple of days as I use the plugin more

[davidseo013]

I lost my wordpress website control after malware attack.