One of the reasons that new versions of WordPress are released is that security holes have been discovered and patched up. So it is absolutely vital that you make sure that your installation is up to date.

Some people prefer to work on versions of WordPress that are established and other people have had the chance to find any bugs in the code. Whilst I understand this and support the theory in some ways, in other ways it is extremely dangerous.

I have read stories about different bloggers who have had their blogs successfully attacked. But, in every case, these bloggers were all using old versions of WordPress rather than the latest versions. People who get their pleasures from attacking blogs are likely to know the tricks used to attack old versions of WordPress, so by leaving yourself on an old version you are opening yourself to more possible attacks.

There is a balance to the risks, but on the whole, I believe in keeping WordPress on the most recent version. But, with some precautionary steps.

First, download and unzip the latest version of WordPress, but keep the version of WordPress you are currently running somewhere on your PC. Next, run a full database backup and save that. Now, if it comes to the worst, you can reinstall the current version of WordPress with your existing database files, as though you never upgraded.

Then upload the new files and logon to wp-admin to force any database updates. Quite simple really, as long as you only have one or two blogs. More complicated with 20 blogs, but I’m testing a way around that too!

Want to know how to do these or other security considerations? Come back again, or follow the blog security tag.

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