Jenn Moore, Graphic Designer & Artist, DC Metro Area

Over the past few months I’ve had the privilege of working with the staff at Mary’s Center on redesigning their website. We recently launched the new website, and here’s the result of all our hard work!

www.maryscenter.org

Mary’s Center is a nonprofit, non-religious organization based in Washington, DC, that provides health care, education, and social services to individuals and families whose needs go unmet by the public and private systems. Mary’s Center saves lives and creates stronger communities, one family at a time.

The Mary’s Center website was made possible by a Service Grant from the Taproot Foundation. Visit the Taproot Foundation’s website to learn more about the organization or apply for a Service Grant.

It was an honor to have been the front-end Graphic Designer for the Mary’s Center website. Volunteering my time to such a great nonprofit has been truly been a rewarding experience!

The Mary’s Center website was made possible by Mark Irwin, Account Director; Kyna Rubin, Writer and Content Manager; Mike Isack, Web Developer; and Eli Turner, Photographer.

Here is a new website I built for my handmade bag business:

Jennie Jane Handmade Bags and Crafts

Jennie Jane is a new business that features the handmade purses and bags sold in my Etsy shop. The design is based on a simple color palette and clean layout. This website was built in WordPress using a custom theme coded by yours truly. Included in the design package for this site are graphics for a Facebook Page, Twitter Page, and Etsy Shop. The live site can be seen at the following link:

www.jenniejane.com

Today a client came to me and stated she could no longer log into her WordPress site, which I designed several months ago. Apparently the login page had been taken over by “the3gayskeeters Mailer.” I opened the wp-login.php file on the server, and sure enough, the code had been compromised by “Yogyacarderlink Indonesian Black Hat Team.” Yikes!

I knew that previously the client’s email had been locked due to exceeding the hourly email limit. When contacted, the hosting company stated there was an issue with open directories on the server, on which they changed the permissions, then removed script forms that had been placed on the site. Figuring that the open directories were now properly protected, I re-installed WordPress to replace any compromised files and hopefully fix the issue for good.

This little dilemma led me to a fantastic article from Smashing Magazine: 10 Useful WordPress Security Tweaks. Most tips include very simple additions to your .htaccess and functions.php files. The summary is as follows:

1. Prevent Unnecessary Info From Being Displayed
2. Force SSL Usage
3. Use .htaccess To Protect The wp-config File
4. Blacklist Undesired Users And Bots
5. Protect Your WordPress Blog From Script Injections
6. Fight Back Against Content Scrapers
7. Create A Plug-In To Protect Your Blog From Malicious URL Requests
8. Remove Your WordPress Version Number
9. Change The Default “Admin” Username
10. Prevent Directory Browsing

I intend on implementing these features in all WordPress sites moving forward. If anyone has more suggestions for protecting a WordPress site, please feel free to share!