777 File Permission in Swift Theme

Hi,

I hope someone can clear this up for me. I downloaded the Swift Theme, and Satish, the author, says that you must change permissions in the swift/cache folder to 777. So many things I read on WordPress say 777 is a big security no-no because it leaves a big hole that hackers can use to gain access to the files on one’s blog.

I asked Satish about this and he says, “Every blog that uses automatic thumbnails has write permissions for cach folder, even the wp-content/uploads has write permissions.” I’ve read other posts on this forum that say that WordPress does indeed use 777.

So I am very, very confused about all this contradictory information! Why would WordPress say 777 is a big no-no and then use 777 for its files? How can one protect one’s WP blog if this is the case? And if I want to use the Swift theme, how do I get around the 777 permissions for the swift/cache folder? Are there any good (free or premium) SEO themes out there that don’t use 777 permissions?

I sure would appreciate any advice/clarification y’all could give! Thanks so much!