Believe it or not, writing a blog does come with potential cybersecurity threats. It may seem ridiculous for cybercriminals to target your blog, but they could gain access to your personal and sensitive information.
Take a look at how blogging may affect your privacy and security, and explore ways to stay safe.
Hackers Could Gain Access to Your Bank Accounts
Even if you don’t share any personal information on your blog, cybercriminals could still discover it. Running a blog anonymously doesn’t keep you safe from online threats. Someone could read between the lines, and find out who you are.
Also, if you register your own domain name, hackers could find out your name, phone number, and email address. They could then use that information to gain access to your bank accounts and steal your money.
Falling Victim to Ransomware
Ransomware is one of the most serious cybersecurity threats that could affect anyone. Cyber crooks could use this piece of malware to block your access to your blog and request a ransom for restoring it.
If you don’t back up your site, and cannot afford to pay the ransom, you could say goodbye to all your content. A lot of work could go down the drain.
Putting Your Physical Safety at Risk
If a criminal knows who you are, your physical safety could be at risk. They could find out where you live, and harass you, rob you, or hurt your family.
This may sound extreme, but it’s not uncommon, especially when it comes to legal, political, or activist bloggers.
How Can You Stay Safe as a Blogger?
There are several ways you can protect your privacy and safety when running a blog.
Use Domain Privacy Protection
When registering a domain for your blog, make sure you get domain privacy protection. With that protection, your chosen domain registrar won’t list your personal information in its public database. Instead, it will list your host’s address and contact information.
To get this protection, you would need to pay an additional annual fee, which is quite affordable. It shouldn’t go over $12 per year.
Secure Your Passwords
Keeping your passwords safe is essential for obvious reasons. First, create a strong, complex password for accessing your blog, and make sure you do the same for all your other accounts.
Second, use a password manager to secure all those passwords. This tool will create a random master password for accessing all your accounts, for which it will also create random passwords. It will change them regularly to ensure excellent security
If anyone ever cracks your master password, they won’t be able to gain access to your other accounts, because this tool will keep generating new passwords until the hacker gives up.
Back Up Your Website
Backing up your website is one of the smartest steps you can take. That way, if anything should ever go wrong, you can always restore the previous version of your site.
For instance, if a potential cybercriminal infects your blog with malware, you could turn to your latest available backup. If someone blocks your blog with ransomware, you could have its backup version to fall back on, and ignore the criminals.
Get a Google Voice Number
Putting your personal phone number on your blog isn’t very wise. The same goes for disclosing your business number. However, you may need clients to contact you, or certain services or apps you use may request your phone number.
This is why you should get a free Google Voice number. It will and block spam, and enable you to forward calls to any device you want.
Use a VPN
This is the best way to keep potential cybersecurity risks at bay. A VPN will make you completely anonymous online, as it will encrypt your internet connection, hide your IP address, and hide your online activity (get it on Play Store).
This means that no one will be able to target you with phishing emails, ransomware, or any other kind of malware. You’ll also be able to avoid potential MIIM (Man-in-the-Middle) attacks, DDoS attacks, and all your uploads and downloads.
Hackers won’t be able to sift through your internet traffic and gain access to your uploads, downloads, admin credentials, and any other data. You’ll also protect your blog when using public WiFi hotspots, which are not at all secure.
Last but not least, you’ll be able to enjoy unrestricted access to online content. Many countries have geo-blocks for certain content, which could significantly limit your research. With a Virtual Private Network, you’ll be able to bypass geo-blocks and censorship.
Writing a blog can be a very satisfying and rewarding experience, but cybersecurity risks often get in the way. To avoid them completely, follow all these tips, and ensure your blog, and your personal privacy stays safe and secure.
