This presentation was given in Las Vegas at BlogWorld 2010 by Brian Layman. It describes techniques that can be used to keep your WordPress website safe.

1. How to Keep Your Blog
from Being
Hacked, Stolen or
Otherwise Violated
Brian Layman
Exhibits: October 15-16 | Conference: October 14-16 | Mandalay Bay Convention Center | Las Vegas Nevada

2. Introduction
• Who I am. What I do. What I see.
• What software do your blogs run on?
• Who here has had a blog
hacked, defaced, stolen or taken down?
• Is your site safe? (No one would ever want to
hack my blog about _____.)
• The title is a lie…

3. Well Known Blog Hacks
• Twitter • PayPal’s Blog
• Gawker • CorneliaMarie.com
• PhotoMatt • ClimateCrisis.net
• Problogger • Twilight Lexicon
• Go Daddy • DreamHost
• Blue Host • Bizland
• Network Solutions

4. Antivirus Campaign
http://bit.ly/AVCampaign

5. Define “hacked”
• Content or uploads destroyed
• Hidden hyperlinks added to your site
• Redirect to another site
• Content edited
• Hijacked website
• Defacement
• Bank fraud

6. Definition of Terms
How attacks happen…
• CSRF/XSRF – Cross Site Request Forgery
• XSS – Cross Site Scripting
• SQL Injection
• DDOS – (Distributed) Denial of Service
• DNS Hijacking – Spoofing or Poisoning
• Malvertising – Malicious Advertising
• Stolen Password
• Bad Code

7. Open source Responses to
Vulnerabilities
• WordPress
• http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress
• security@wordpress.org
• Drupal
• http://drupal.org/security-team
• security@drupal.org
• Joomla
• http://developer.joomla.org/security.html
• security@joomla.org

8. Security Through Obscurity
• What is it? You tell me…
• Who is right?
• My thought:
Any steps that may eliminate a large subset
of attacks on your blog should be taken.

9. Tactics YOU can use no matter
what platform you are on
• The basics
• Passwords
• Communication (Plain Text vs. SSL)
• Updates
• Watch what you add to your sites
(plugins/themes/add-ons)
• Backups
• Google Webmaster Tools

10. Passwords
• Use strong passwords
• Make them unique in high value situations

11. Communication
• Pay attention to how you are sending your
passwords
• Wireless Networks = Risk
• FTP – Use SFTP instead
• Email – Use SSL Ports 587,995,993 vs 25,110,143
• Skype – Syncs history upon connect, never send
secure passwords – EVER
• CPanel/WHM/Admin pages – if it is http not
https, your password can be scraped

12. Updates
• Keep your blog, plugins, themes, & operating
system current – yes, even Linux
• Security and attacks improve over time
2005 – Admin operations required a referrer
2006 – Admin operations required a NONCE
2007 – Plugin pages forced to check security
2008 – Randomized keys and salts & upgrades
2009 – Security escalations issues – full review
2010 – Automated plugin and theme upgrades

13. Watch what you add…
• Every plugin or theme is a security risk
• “Free Theme” sites are a very high risk
• Less popular & highly specialized plugins
have had less eyes on them and are riskier
• Older plugins used older security standards -
we simply knew less and had fewer tools
• You are responsible for your site. Learn how
to identify problems or make a friend who can.

14. Backups
• Both files and database
• Keep the files offline
• If you have files online keep them out of
public_html
• As important as having the backups…
Know how to restore them!
• Before you restore – delete the files and
directories to remove the hack files

15. Google Webmaster Tools
• How do you know you are hacked?
• Google will email you when they consider you
a risk
• http://www.google.com/webmasters/
• http://www.google.com/webmasters/checklist/
• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/reconsi
deration
• You can configure multiple owners

16. Coding Practices
• EVERYTHING that is displayed on the screen
must be filtered.
• WordPress provides: esc_html esc_url esc_*
http://codex.wordpress.org/Data_Validation
• EVERYTHING that you send to the database
must be filtered.
• WordPress provides: $wpdb->prepare
• TRUST NOTHING
• Try to use your text instead of user input

17. Servers
• Permissions - The 755 myth
• chmod -R 755 *
• Generic: Directories Should be 755 Files 644
• Reality: The least privileges provides the most
access
• VPS vs Shared Hosting vs Managed Hosting
• Flexibility, Access, Less risk = More $
• Harden your own server or let someone do it
• suPHP – Isolates your installation

18. WordPress Specific
Security Techniques
• Create a “Editor” user for posting
• Create a new “Administrator”, delete the old
one, then only use it for maintenance
• Never use wp_ as your table prefix
• Look at wp-config-sample.php now and then
and update your wp-config.php
• Force Secure password logins
• http://codex.wordpress.org/Administration_Over_SSL

19. WordPress Techniques
(Expected Answers)
• Move wp-config.php
• Remove version Info
• Rename the admin user
• Move your wp-content directory – Possibly
worth doing but will break many plugins and
themes
• Use .htaccess to white list IP addresses or
add an extra password layer

20. WordPress Techniques
• Free Plugins
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
• exploit-scanner
• wp-security-scan
• wordpress-file-monitor
• Paid Plugins
http://pluginbuddy.com/purchase/backupbuddy/

21. Who can help?
Managed Hosting & Clean Up
• iThemes.com
• Page.ly
• WPSecuritylock.com
• WebDevStudios.com
• CoveredWebServices.com
And of course:
• eHermitsInc.com

22. Brian Layman
http://eHermitsInc.com/slides
http://twitter.com/brianlayman @eHermits
Brian@eHermitsInc.com
Text ehermits to 50500