I've said it before and also written about it several times before but I feel that I can't repete myself enough: make sure you backup your data!!!!

It's always important to keep off site backups of your databases and other files so you can restore your content in case of a hard drive failiur or an evil attack of some kind. There are several ways your site could get damaged or even totally destroyed like for example security holes in the blogging software you're using, or maybe an insecure password.

The reason I feel I have to repete myself is simply a post I read at Moms Cash Blog titled The Hacking of Taylor Blue where "Mom" is intervewing Taylor Blue that got her site taylorsentertainmentnews.com hacked and destroyed three times in less then nine months!!!!

If you don't have backups of your site the first time you get hacked it's of course painfull like hell, but it should learn you a valueable lesson (to backup your data that is). As soon as you get your site up and running you should (read: must or have to) investigate your options for backups and better security. It's not enough to get your site up and running!

If you haven't learned anything from the first hacking, then you shouldn't run a professional blog…..

This is a quote from the interview:

The person helping me out would then say I had lost everything and would have to start over again. There was nothing I could really put my finger on.  But when it happened the second time I started to feel really funny every day… not knowing if I had a blog that day or not. The last time it was just messed up. It was wrecked beyond the state that it could be fixed.

Ok, she couldn't put her finger on what was wrong and that's OK since we're not all tech geeks, but after the first time she should have learned the lesson to take daily backups off site. Even if you're not a tech geek like some of us you must realize that you need backups even if you have to pay someone (like your hosting company) to do them for you. Instead of "feeling funny" every day she should have done daily off site backups…….

In another part of the interview she mention that she's using cPanel for her hosting account. With cPanel you don't have any excuses to why you don't backup your data because you can both do off site backups on the server level and on the account level in cPanel. But the big question here is: why didn't she learn this earlier?

My friend and I used to back up the blog in the cpanel but I was told that the hackers had gotten into that and even messed up my backup. So… always keep a backup not anywhere near your site. It is important to know that you have to keep a backup somewhere other than on your site!

It's almost a criminal act by not learning from the first hacking and start doing off site backups!

In a later article I will give you step-by-step instructions on how to backup your data in cPanel.

By hacking in this article I mean all types of hacking, but also injection of evil code and other ways that may destroy your site or make your site function in an unwanted way (like the Bokia.se case).

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 10:37 am and is filed under Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.