Apparently there is a security hole in WordPress that allows hackers into your hosting account. To secure everything, you need to update to the latest version 2.8.6 of WordPress immediately:
Here is a video from Youtube with a quick explanation followed by the WordPress statement:
2.8.6 fixes two security problems that can be exploited by registered, logged in users who have posting privileges. If you have untrusted authors on your blog, upgrading to 2.8.6 is recommended.
The first problem is an XSS vulnerability in Press This discovered by Benjamin Flesch. The second problem, discovered by Dawid Golunski, is an issue with sanitizing uploaded file names that can be exploited in certain Apache configurations. Thanks to Benjamin and Dawid for finding and reporting these.”
Why not do it now! And don’t forget to backup first.
There are major security issues with WordPress 2.8.0 to 2.8.3 which allow anyone, not just hackers, to change your admin password very easily.
WordPress 2.8.4 was created to solve this problem.
Many people will have ignored the upgrade link or put it off for another day (and I am as guilty of this as anyone) but in this particular instance, upgrade as soon as possible.
If you have a more recent version of WordPress you will be able to do this automatically, however don’t forget to back up first!
I am sure that most marketers are aware that it makes sense to backup your computer.
Anyone who has stared at the BSOD, otherwise known as the Blue Screen Of Death, will know all about that sinking feeling that you get when you realize you may well have lost everything on your computer.
If it is not lost then it could be if you have to reload your operating system.
I have had that sinking feeling twice on two different computers so you may well understand that I like to backup. Lesson hard learned!
Problems can occur for any number of reasons from system failures to hacking so it makes sense to backup your blog as well where you may have lots of content which has taken you a lot of hard work, a lot of time, some frustration and so on.
I have been researching the options available so I can start taking backups regularly and get some peace of mind.
There seems to be three main options and these are:
the built-in Export feature on WordPress
WordPress backup plugin
manual database backup
Option 1 is quick and easy and shouldn’t present any problems however there are limitations:
will only backup users, posts, comments and categories
will not backup links
is limited to 64MB upload limit
You can do this by going to your blog admin, then go to “Tools” and click on “Export”. You will then be taken to an “Export” page.
There all you have to do is click on “Download Export File”. You will then be taken to your normal pop-up where you can open or save file.
Save file to your Desktop or any other place that is convenient to you.
Option 2 is a downloadable plugin which will backup your entire site not just the database, can schedule backups and can also email the backup to you.
Limitations are:
you can only restore manually using something similiar to PHPMyAdmin as there is no restore function in WordPress
a greater learning curve
NB. at the time of writing this there are some compatibility issues with the latest WordPress update (2.8.1) which I am sure will be fixed soon.
Option 3 is a manual backup and would probably be more suitable to people who are comfortable with PHPMyAdmin via CPanel.
Not really for inexperienced people.
Having said that I came across an excellent video which may encourage you to have a look at manual backups. It is about upgrading your WordPress blog but has a lot of excellent advice about backing up your blog first.
Well, that is the results of my research into backing up a WordPress blog.
I hope it helps and I would welcome any comments which improve on this or otherwise.
Good luck!
