Are you sure your WordPress blog is safe from hackers? Well, the answer is simple – it depends on how long since you have updated your WordPress version.

The rising popularity of WordPress platform has led to the exponential growth of security threats. Hackers are now infiltrating the old versions of WordPress. But of course, there’s really nothing to worry about. The people behind WordPress are great at their craft; they belong to the crème de la crème of programmers and technicians. Moreover, to keep WordPress secure and safe they work feverishly to update the current version of WordPress.

Last January 3, 2012, WordPress released the 3.3.1 Security and Maintenance. This security and maintenance release fixes the cross-site scripting susceptibility and 15 other issues that affected the previous version 3.3.

So, why do you need to update to the latest WordPress version? Here are some of the reasons why:

• A message at the top of the WordPress Control area or dashboard informs you the release of a new version.
• Security updates have been issued which are the most significant updates.

Learning how to update is straight-forward and simple. Here are the instructions to make your update smooth with little more than a couple of button presses.

• Backup WordPress Files – Save a copy of WordPress files, posts and pages. At the left sidebar click on the Tools icon then select Export. Click on the Download Export File on the following screen. Creating a new folder to keep the new files is a good idea. Anyhow, this step should be done monthly regardless if an update is necessary.
• Backup WordPress Database – The WP-DBManager makes is step a no brainer. This is a must have for optimizing and repairing the database to keep things run smoothly.
• Deactivate Plug-ins – Just to be safe, before any upgrade deactivate all plug-ins.

If the above steps were completed, the next step would be to follow the link in your nag bar then update your site. Afterwards, make sure to update and reactivate the plug-ins.

If something is not working as it used to be, go through the methodical course of deactivating your plug-ins all over again, this time perform it one at a time until you find the culprit. Updating should never be ignored in any case. After all, it is not just about keeping abreast with technology; rather it’s a way of ensuring the security.