As WordPress currently holds about 40% of the global web presence; it has become a preferred choice for attackers due to the availability of multiple plugins and themes. The website can be an online store that displays products you have to offer, a personal blog that displays your work, or an integrated society for one category of people. But no matter how attractive it may be, like a store needs security measures, a website also needs it. And this is the role of website security comes into play. With an insecure WordPress website, you are likely to lose your data, and fight malware and all this amounts to a lack of trust from users; this applies to both personal and business sites.
In this blog post, you will learn the basic steps and valuable recommendations that will help make your website safe and reliable with WordPress.
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Why Does Security Matter?
Try to picture a stranger trying to steal your merchandise in your shop. That is the consequence of having an insecure website. Your precious data with your visitors and guests can be easily pilfered by hackers involved in practices of injecting malicious code into your site’s files or exploiting weaknesses in plugins and themes. Security isn’t an issue for large corporations only, those who have a great amount of information. However, small websites are also attacked, and the repercussions are similar.
The security of the website is an important component; hence, there is a need to ensure that the site is secure. For businesses, a security breach can lead to:
Think of these threats as burglars attempting to enter your house, or in this case, your website. Understanding common security threats helps you implement effective defenses:
These are just a few examples and there are new threats that appear from time to time. If you follow these measures, your website’s security will substantially increase:
Here are a few ways to safeguard your WordPress site:
Any website has to be secure and this is done by having good passwords as well as usernames. Do not use words like “admin”, ‘Password’, ‘1234’, and other such easily guessable patterns. Make sure you have different and complex passwords for all your accounts, and in order to remember all those passwords use a password manager.
A robust password should be:
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an additional stage to the methods of protection. It is like having a double lock on your door making it extremely hard to break in. With 2FA if a user has logged in using a guessed password, the second factor of authentication will be required for the intruder to gain access. This could be:
Popular 2FA plugins include:
Regular Updates
Well, updates are sort of like those temporary fixes done on the roof when it has a leak. Updates may contain fixes to various security issues and new additions to the program’s protection level.
To ensure timely updates:
How to Automate Updates
Automating updates can help you stay secure without manual intervention. You can enable automatic updates for WordPress core, themes, and plugins through the dashboard. For more detailed steps, refer to this guide.
Further, consider using plugins that deal with updates automatically, for example, Easy Updates Manager is a plugin that offers advanced control for auto-updating.
Similarly to how you would not install a program from an untrusted website, one should also select plugins and themes carefully. The plugin and theme files should be obtained from reliable sources like the official WordPress repository. This also helps in sealing the code and then disseminating it in order to ensure that it has been checked for security and all necessary functions.
Regularly Review Installed Plugins
Always monitor the plugins and themes you have on your website. Remove the ones that are no longer relevant or have not been used for a very long time. WP security plugins and themes that are not updated or maintained always prove to be security hazards once they are outdated.
Here’s a rundown of some highly recommended WordPress security plugins to prevent hacking:
Remember, regularly review your installed plugins and remove any that are unused or outdated.
Adjusting some of the WordPress settings can immensely enhance security. Let’s start with some simple but effective changes:
Disable File Editing
Deactivating the appearance, editor, and plugin section of the WordPress panel ensures that unauthorized individuals do not modify your site’s files. To turn off the editing feature, one is required to include the following line on the wp-config page. php file:
php
define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true);
This simple step is useful to prevent unauthorized manipulation of your site.
Limit Login Attempts
Prevent the band-maid attacks on your site by limiting the number of login attempts. Plugins, for example, limit login attempts reloaded can be used to set limits and get alerts of any activity that is malicious.
It can be another challenge that requires changing the Default Login URL.
This is good to try as it reduces the ability of the attacker to guess the default URL of the wp-admin login page. There are various plugins available in WordPress like WPS Hide Login which can be useful to modify the URL of login and to increase security measures in the login form.
While the steps above are essential, additional measures can provide even stronger prot
Install a Security Plugin
We have listed some of the famous types above. These plugins include security options that range from scanning your site for malware to having a firewall provision. Plugins like Wordfence and Sucuri offer features such as:
A WAF functions as a wall that scans the traffic and prevents malicious traffic from penetrating your website. It sits between your site and the threat and prevents them from getting into the core of your site.
Enable SSL/HTTPS
Digital certificates such as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates work by encrypting the data that is exchanged between your site and the end user. Enabling the usage of SSL/HTTPS serves not only to protect the information but also affects the position in SERP. Modern hosting companies provide free SSL, or you can get a certificate from Let’s Encrypt for free as well.
Securing your WordPress website with these tips requires a bit more technical knowledge, but they’re worth the effort for added security.
Some of the backup plugins are UpdraftPlus and VaultPress among others. It is advisable to have backups created on a weekly and maybe daily basis for important information. Even with the best security measures, there’s always a risk of something going wrong. That’s why regular backups are crucial. Suppose one fine day you wake up to find your website has been hacked, and all the information has disappeared. In such a situation, your regular backup can be a troubleshooter for you to restore your website data quickly. Backups enable you to return the site to the previous state, making downtime and data loss minimal.
Some popular options include:
It is recommended that backups be carried out routinely and the backup files be kept in other locations like cloud or hard drives.
Set Up Security Alerts
It is very important to know that security is not a one-day event but rather an ongoing event. Security alerts let you track the website for malicious activities after deploying security measures on the site. Security plugins are capable of generating alarms for instance failed login attempts, changes to the key files, or even the presence of a virus. Such notifications help you act promptly in relation to possible threats.
Regular Security Scans
Conduct periodic checkups on your site’s security to determine the existing gaps and the type of malware present. There are many security plugins that have their own integrated scan features that can be set up for weekly or daily scanning. Scanning makes you act on the security problems before they come to a head.
If your website is hacked, follow these steps to mitigate the damage:
WordPress security is more of a process and not a one-time thing, and the following measures are some of the things you need to do. The described methods such as using strong passwords, making two-factor authentication, updating a website, protecting plugins and themes, and backing up data can minimize the probability of attacks. Thus one can smoothly run a WordPress website, thus being confident that it is safe and reliable, through close monitoring and timely response to threats.
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