{"id":46,"date":"2011-08-25T18:14:20","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T18:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/2011\/08\/25\/website-security\/"},"modified":"2021-08-16T23:53:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T03:53:24","slug":"website-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/website\/website-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Website Security – Preventative Measures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Website security is a topic on a lot of users’ minds. If you search the web for How to hack a website<\/em>, you will literally get millions of hits. Taking the necessary precautions now with your website will help prevent a big headache later on in the event anything does happen to your website.<\/p>\n

This article includes links to sources online about website security, that pertain specifically to individual programs like WordPress and Microsoft Windows. While it is not possible for us to publish every security article for every program, a search on the web regarding security and updates for the software you run should return numerous results.<\/p>\n

Note: If you suspect you have already been hacked, please see our article on recovering from a hack<\/a><\/div>\n

Backing up your account<\/h2>\n

We’re starting this article on website security with an introduction to backups. Making regular backups of your website is very important, and is one of the best recommendations that we can provide. cPanel includes an easy backup utility that you can use to backup your entire website, including your databases, email, and files. For more information on backing up your website, please view our article on how to create cPanel backups<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are numerous techniques that hackers can use to compromise a website, however the reasons these techniques are successful are usually because of:<\/p>\n

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  1. Vulnerabilities in the software you run on your hosting account<\/li>\n
  2. Vulnerabilities in software that you run on your local computer<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Vulnerabilities in the software you run on your hosting account<\/h2>\n

    Most software that users run on their website is Open Source software. Open Source software is software that is freely available for anyone to download and use. For example, both Joomla and WordPress are very commonly used, and they are both Open Source. One of the drawbacks of Open Source software is that anyone can download and view the software’s code, which makes it easier for hackers to find ways to compromise a website. The authors of such Open Source Applications release updates and security patches on a regular basis. Please be sure that you are running the most current versions of any third party software on your website, as the most current version is usually the most secure version as well.<\/p>\n

    The following is a list of links, for WordPress and Joomla specifically, that point to the software’s own information about security:<\/p>\n

    WordPress<\/h3>\n