Throughout the web hosting industry there are hundreds of website scripts that allow you to create websites and blogs with a minimal amount of knowledge of coding skill needed. Some of these include:
- Wordpress
- Joomla
- Drupal
- Magento
- many many more...
Each of these from time to time will have a part of their code which can be vulnerable to attack. These attacks can include comment spam in which a blog for example would get thousands and thousands of comments with links to innappropraite sites, changing of the content of your site completely, or even deleting the entire database which makes it nearly impossible to save the website. Each of these types of attack can be harmful to the site but also the server as a whole as well.
The best thing that you can do is follow these main 4 points of security.
- Make sure that all your scripts have secure passwords.
- Make sure that you regularly check for updates of any installed scripts. Many scripts have an update email list or forum that will email you with new updates or patches upon their release.
- Delete any unused scripts.
- If any scripts have as a part of their install "how to" that includes further steps to secure your site, do them.
With each of 4 points followed we can all rest a little easier.
Be mindfull though as at no time should you ever think that you are ok to just sit back. Sites can get hacked easily if they are out of date and there are entire websites that are dedicated to exposing the holes in scripts to allow people to hack a site at will.
