5 Drupal Security Tips

Drupal is one of the most secure content management platforms around. Despite its high level of security, it is still vulnerable to certain types of security problems. Many of the potential security problems are preventable if you know what to look for. Here are five security tips for Drupal.

1. Security Updates

Some security problems are actually just loopholes that are found in certain developmental versions of the platform. Security loopholes can actually open to door to malware, hacking, and other attempts to compromise the security of the website. One easy solution is to stay with the recommended distributions until the developmental versions have been stabilized. Be sure to keep everything up to date whenever new releases are available because they will usually have the security solutions that you need to keep your site secure.

2. Be Selective About 3rd Party Modules

Third party modules can help your website run faster and offer some helpful features, but you should use them with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, there are some third party modules may actually create some security issues that may not have been present otherwise. In order to prevent this, it is recommended that you carefully review each one before installation. Try to stick with the ones that are recommended by other users and be sure to look through it yourself to see if there are any problems.

3. Regularly Change Passwords

You should always use tough passwords to ensure the security of your website, but another thing you should be doing is changing your passwords regularly. Hackers can penetrate your system if you use the same passwords continuously, which is common as many people do that because it can be difficult to remember a lot of passwords. It is vital that you change your passwords at least every 3 months for all of your entire system.

4. Monitor Other User Accounts

Although it is perfectly fine to have other users, their privileges should be carefully monitored and restricted. Sometimes security issues can occur when other users inadvertently let in malicious code or even invite other users. Make sure that they must have permission to make posts, change settings, or add code to your website.

5. Backup, Backup, Backup

As always, backing up yours system is essential. If you do not backup your system, then it will be much more difficult to recover from a security issue that has significantly altered your website. The best solution to this problem is to perform regular backups. Go through all of the steps to make sure that your information is still there.

Securing your Drupal website is relatively easy to do as long as you follow these general guidelines. Be careful about what you allow other users to do with your site, backup your information, change your passwords, update your modules, and be selective about using third party modules. If you do all of this your site will more than likely stay safe.

Photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kodomut/3666796335/

Sources

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