Notice how some URLs start with “http://” and others with “https://”?
What does the extra “s” mean?
In simple terms, the extra letter means that the website is encrypted, and your connection is secured. That “s” is SSL or Secure Sockets Layer.
In this article, we’ll talk about SSL and how it can be used to secure your site and its users.
You don’t need to live in a repressive dystopia or fear government surveillance to be concerned about sharing your information safely online. As public figures, bloggers have been victims of doxxing, stalking, hacking and other web-based nastiness just thanks to the natural “generosity” of the Internet at large. Being well-known in the modern age means you might catch the attention of malicious trouble-makers, and you need to be prepared for the worst. [Read more…]
The success of any online enterprise always revolves around one thing: user experience. Bear in mind that the online audience is pickier than you might think. They want relevant information to be presented in an organized fashion, they want the colors to be easy on the eyes, and they want your site’s navigation to be seamless. Moreover, most of them will get bored of a website if it does not load completely within 5 seconds. So in addition to making sure you provide quality content, you should also pay attention to optimizations that will boost your website’s loading speed. [Read more…]
It’s something that no blogger ever wants to see: A message from a reader, telling you that something is wrong with your site. Hackers can do any number of things to your blog if they gain access to it, from installing malware to completely replacing your existing content with something else (usually offensive), to causing redirects to other harmful sites, or even locking you out entirely to make it difficult to reclaim your work. Not only does getting hacked mean several hours — or even days — of work to recreate your blog, but it can also damage your reputation if you don’t handle the recovery right. [Read more…]
Although it’s pretty much unlikely that any high profile hacktivists are going to be targeting your website via a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack anytime soon, that’s not necessarily grounds for sitting back relaxed and complacent without a backup / protection plan. DDoS attacks are becoming more prevalent and much easier to execute thanks improvement in technology, bandwidth and accessibility to tools and information on how to do it. We continue to see big brands like Sony get brought down momentarily by these attacks, and even the CIA’s website suffered this pain in 2012. It’s a serious threat.
For clarification, DDoS attacks happen through an overpowering of numerous computers, usually through the use of bots, that continuously send traffic to an IP address or website. As simple as this might seem, the effects can be brutal to a website. What’s worse is that the typical common security protocols that are set up to defend against hacking and intrusion just don’t work against DDoS attacks and taking matters into your own hands, whether it’s through WordPress security plugins or code tweaks and improvements are not sufficient. [Read more…]
