3 Must-Know Cybersecurity Tips to Protect Your Blog

If you asked most bloggers what they needed to know about cybersecurity, they’d either shrug or say something like “I don’t need to worry about that, right?”

The unfortunate truth is that all bloggers need to know some degree of cybersecurity to protect themselves and any sensitive information they own. No blog, big or small, is safe. Hackers don’t really care about the size of your blog, they’re only in it to disrupt or for monetary benefits.

If you just put several months of work into a blog and are on the brink of breaking through, you wouldn’t want a hacker taking control and holding it for ransom, would you? Sadly, this sort of thing happens all the time.

By knowing and implementing a few basic cybersecurity measures, you can greatly reduce your risk of being compromised from a cyber-attack.

Below are 3 must know cybersecurity tips to protect your blog.

Protect Yourself from Viruses and Other Malware

Some malware tries to squeak into your blogs mainframe, while other types focus on embedding into your computer directly. The bottom line is that you need to make sure you’re protected from both.

The first thing you should do is get an all-encompassing security suite for any device used for your blog. There are lots of good software options out there with patch management, antivirus, and network scanning features. You usually get what you pay for with security software, so you probably want to carefully evaluate your needs based on your blog.

If you work with a team, you may want to consider software that can monitor IP and internet usage to avoid sites containing potentially dangerous malware.

Once your system is safeguarded, you’ll then want to apply the same vigilance with smartphones and other devices you use for your blog.

Be Careful Which Plugins You Use

If you’re blogging in 2017, there’s a good chance you use WordPress and plugins or scripts to help manage your blog.

You want to be very careful of which plugins you choose to download and install on your site. Plugins that you do choose to move forward with should be updated frequently so that hackers can’t take advantage of potential holes.

If there are any plugins that you either don’t use or haven’t had updates pushed to in a while, get rid of them. There’s a good chance you can find a newer, safer alternative.

Plugins are some of the easiest tools that hackers can use to backdoor into your system. Play it safe and always be aware that the risk of an attack is present.

Backup All of Your Content

Being honest, cybersecurity threats aren’t the only reason you should backup your content, but they’re a heck of a good one.

At one point or another, something will happen where you will need a backup of your data to restore it completely or at least bring it back to a safe configuration. Your blog’s cybersecurity plan is severely lacking if it doesn’t have a way to do this. It’s inevitable, and a contingency plan utilizing backed up data is much easier than trying to start over from scratch.

If you really want to take things up a notch, consider a paid cloud storage service that manages the cybersecurity aspect of it for you. This can be especially useful if you collaborate with multiple people.

Conclusion

All bloggers, whether they want to believe or not, are susceptible to cybersecurity breaches. Hackers usually don’t care how big or small your blog is, they’re only after targets they can exploit. Take the necessary precautions to protect your systems and deter hackers from getting into your private data.