SiteLock and WordPress Hardening

[Alston]

I've had several sites hacked.

The first time, it was my coding. I had my mySQL password in the wrong place.

After that, however, all of the hacking was done through WP or vBulletin forum software (the same software used for this site). Unfortunately WP and vBulletin are so popular that a lot of really smart people spend a lot of time figuring out how to hack the code.

It sucks, but you have to keep working to stay one step ahead of hackers. The truth is that if a hacker wants to get in badly enough and the hacker is good enough, the hacker will succeed. That being said, you don't want your site to be low hanging fruit.

BTW, The tip from scagnt83 about not using "admin" is a good one. I "got got" once that way. If they know the user name, they can use a "dictionary attack" to find the password. Easy peasy for a hacker.

I'm not sure what the long term solution is, but I'll be paying attention to this thread.

 

[scagnt83]

BTW, The tip from scagnt83 about not using "admin" is a good one. I "got got" once that way. If they know the user name, they can use a "dictionary attack" to find the password. Easy peasy for a hacker.

I'm not sure what the long term solution is, but I'll be paying attention to this thread.

Another related tip is to post under a different name than your user name. The function is under admin if I remember correctly.
If you post under your username then you are showing the whole world 50% of what is needed to hack/log in to your site.

 

[Jib]

Another related tip is to post under a different name than your user name. The function is under admin if I remember correctly.
If you post under your username then you are showing the whole world 50% of what is needed to hack/log in to your site.

In the admin section under NAME, it lists Username, First Name, and Last Name.. then "Display name publicly as"

So are you suggesting it's ok to leave your first/last name as is (Joe Smith for example), but simply change the "Display name publicly" to something else?

I changed my Username to something random, but I kept my real name under First/Last Name section

 

[scagnt83]

In the admin section under NAME, it lists Username, First Name, and Last Name.. then "Display name publicly as"

So are you suggesting it's ok to leave your first/last name as is (Joe Smith for example), but simply change the "Display name publicly" to something else?

I changed my Username to something random, but I kept my real name under First/Last Name section

I am suggesting to do what you did.
"Display Publicly" as something different than your username. The username is what you don't want to be public or generic.