Hackers have been around for too long, usually associated with dark
themes and “the evil side” they represent the minority of IT Gurus that
just have too much time on their hands, and a touch of evilness.
Usually represented with a skull or “horrifically” they are iconic in a never ending battle against internet crime.
Your hosting provider should have set up your server with a certain
amount of security built-in. However, there’s much you can do yourself
to ensure your site stays unmolested.
Hackers play an “unwanted” yet a significant role on the net, it
creates thousands if not millions of jobs, in the IT field but they are a
menace to webmasters, such as you and me alike.
Not to worry, because the following list of “Ten Tips” aims to tell
you a little about the way malicious hackers work, and some ways of
protecting your site-and inevitably preserving the privacy of your
visitors.
10) Comment Attacks
Comments are one of most prized features for blogs, and helps create a
great relationship between the author and the reader, and also between
readers in the wider community. It would also be easy for someone to
insert HTML code that causes trouble.
You need to “validate” the form input before it’s accepted, to strip
out all but the most basic HTML tags, for example and also if you’re
using WordPress – you can utilize the “Keyword Filter” to block out any
harsh words that might raise an issue or two.
9) Unsolicited Installation of Scripts
It can be dangerous to install third-party scripts and programs on
your website unless you understand what they are actually doing. Even if
you don’t fully understand the programming, you can read through the
code and look for tell-tale signs such as references to third-party
URLS.
You can also visit community forums such as SitePoint and DigitalPoint to ask around for better advice.
Avoid Scam/Spammy Websites
In a desperate attempt to get visitors you might consider try
extensive viral marketing and other means of gaining the attention, this
may cause a few people in the wrong community to raise a few eyebrows.
The last thing you need as a settled web-master is to cause a stir
amongst the wrong people. Stay away from websites and especially forums
that offer “information” or “get traffic quick” that uses illegal spam
lists and such.
7) Clear the Cookies!
Personally,
I use a lot of public computers to blog and do other online activities,
maybe because it’s convenient or my unreliable ISP crashed on my once
more. Inevitable there’s many, many webmasters like me that use public
services for either a quick access or regular work.
Just don’t forget to clear out the cookies and cache before you
leave! Even if the service provider claims “no tracking of privacy” or
anything along those lines, a quick clean before you leave wouldn’t hurt
anyone.
6) Prevent illegal farmers’ from “harvesting” your lists
Hacking techniques are used to “harvest” email addresses, which are
then used by spammers and other hackers for malicious activities. If you
are storing email data on your website, for what-ever required reason,
make sure it’s stored in a secure format, such as a MySQL Database.
Most top-CMS such as WordPress and Joomla make this compulsory but
there’s many self written CMS’s too. If your script simply writes data
to a text called “emails.txt” it won’t be long before someone sniffs it
out.
5) Make sure your files are using the correct CHMOD Permissions
CHMOD File Permissions assign a specific value to every file/folder on your server, which allows different levels of access.
CHMOD Permission range from 000 (No access) to 777 (Full access), you
must decide which files get what permissions, but be warned that some
third party software require higher permissions to operate properly. You
need to balance out features with security and make an informed
decision.
Using a FTP you can change the permissions given to each file/folder
on your server. This is vital to ensure any unauthorized access to your
content is comprehensively denied.
Note – Make sure your CHMOD settings work with your current web-hosts. Some hosts prevent ’777′ for security reasons.
4) Don’t use Generic Usernames
Using common words for usernames such as “admin”, “administrator” or
“Site Owner” can cause many implications because you are simply making
the job of the hacker’s a lot easier. By using such common words for
your username, you are incredibly increasing the success rate of the
hacker by at least a few points of a percentage, which is consider a lot
where only one answer can be right from an unlimited range of
combinations.
3) Securing your Ports
To put in simple words, a “PORT” is used to access data from outside
the server. It also utilized to transfer data both ways, into the server
and also outgoing. Most of this activity is behind closed doors and
happens automatically, and only trained professionals tend to play
around with such details.
Nevertheless, ports are constantly opened & closed for
easy-access, for programs such as a FTP (File Transfer Protocol). This
can be favorable for any hackers attempting to access your sensitive
files, so make sure any unwanted ports are ‘properly closed.’
2) Updated Security Patches
If your web hosting provider hasn’t already done so, you should check
that all the latest security patches for various aspects of the service
are properly installed. As you might know, WordPress (self-hosted) is
one of the most popular Content Management Systems out there on the
market.
It is used by millions- so it’s not surprising to see many hackers
working day/night trying to hack it. Updates and patches are regularly
released, so keep an eye out for all your plug-ins/core files.
1) Use Strong Passwords!
The
number one technique you can possibly implement. Hackers are experts at
programming computers to plough through huge amounts of data very
quickly. That’s the reason longer passwords are more secure; the number
of possible combinations grows exponentially with every extra character
added.
Hackers employ a technique called “dictionary attack” where they
repeatedly try username and password combinations by running through
hundreds of common words, phrases, numbers and combination them till
they get lucky. It’s important you use random strings like “j@m13s(!)”
instead of perhaps “jamie123″
Lastly, this cannot be a ‘tip’ instead a complusory step in setting up your online community. Make sure your “
.htaccess” and “
.htpasswrd”
is properly formatted with the secure CHMOD of 644. This is important
and adds the best out-layer of protection for you and your visitors.
