Almost every day, Google blocks thousands of more sites for Malware and thousands more for phishing. There is a lot to do to ensure WordPress security. We firmly believe that security is not only about removing risk. It’s also about lowering risk.
Security in WordPress is taken so seriously, but as with every other system, security issues can arise if you don’t take the basic security precautions. The article focuses on covering common forms of vulnerability and what you can do to keep your WordPress website secure. We have several actionable steps that can help keep your web pages secure from threats.
1. Don’t Use Null Themes
Nulled themes are unauthorized versions of the original Premium WordPress Themes. They might be a backdoor with the potential for many exploits that can damage an internet site on a web server. Also, these themes publish illegally, but their use doesn’t get support.
Premium themes are developed by skilled developers and will pass multiple WordPress checks straight from the source. A nulled or cracked theme is the hacked version of a premium theme that people purchase via illicit means. While it is tempting to save a few bucks, always avoid nulled themes.
- These themes and plugins feature hidden malicious code, which can destroy your website and database or log your admin passwords.
- In the case of premium themes, you will get full support if anything goes wrong with your website. Most importantly, you’ll be entitled to periodic theme updates in premium themes.
2. Install SSL Certificate
A secure socket layer or SSL is helpful to a lot of WordPress sites. You can use it to transfer user’s IP addresses to their server. SSL encryption makes secure information encrypted before it you transmit it between the browser and the server. It is less likely that it can be read and will make a website more secure.
- Most web hosting companies offer free SSL certificates that you can install from the website.
- Google has recognized its importance and gives websites with an SSL certificate more weight in their search rankings.
3. Check Out Static Site Generator – FLATsite
FLATsite is a powerful, affordable application whose simple design guarantees the security of your WordPress website in no time. It eliminates the need for databases and the need endpoints. Also, it simply shows your website to the browser that loads a static HTML document. It means you can prevent Malware without any security plugin.
- FLATSite has worked with various companies to reduce their WordPress database footprints and rely less on external service providers.
- So visitors load static pages, which have a quicker performance and keep hackers from visiting your site.
- The serverless software prevents hackers because it will never need any database data to hack into, and thus your static pages come with an extra level of security.
- Manage the website across your dashboards, automate updates to WordPress plugins to avoid hackers attacking.
- Any WP developer who wants to accelerate and make the WordPress site secure can benefit from static sites. If you want more information, check out our review about FLATsite.
4. Limit Login Attempts
WordPress has an interface that makes it possible to log in as many times as you please. By limiting the number of attempts a person makes on their personal network, the user has limited attempts as the system blocks the session.
- It limits your chance of an attacker trying a simple brute force attack.
- It’s also possible to enable login attempts on wp-admin without a plugin to deal with brute force attacks. Or you can install the plugins for this purpose.
- If someone adds the wrong username and password, WordPress security plugins will help to protect your website.
5. Hide Wp-Config.php File And Htaccess File
If you’re seriously concerned about your security, it’s the best practice to hide your server’s.htaccess and wp-config.php files to prevent hackers. We highly recommend that experienced developers implement this option. Although the actual process is straightforward, it is crucial to make sure you have the backup first. It is necessary should anything go wrong in the process.
- Any mistake might render your site inaccessible so take a backup of your website and then go off with a caution.
- It is imperative to implement this option to recommend it carefully if you like to hide the files after the backup.
6. Choose A Good Hosting Company
Paying for a reasonable web hosting service means extra-layered security is automatically assigned to your website. With the best quality, WordPress hosting a website can get faster and more responsive. It may sound tempting to go with a cheap hosting provider. But it’ll slow down your website and harm in security aspects as well!
7. Disable File Editing
If a user has admin access to your WordPress dashboard, they can edit any files on the site, including plugins and themes. This is why you must disallow file editing so no one will modify anything even if they get into your account through hacking efforts! Disabling the file permissions and limiting to yourself is excellent for the wp-admin directory.
8. Change your WP-Login URL
The default login page for WordPress is the same for all sites except for URL. Therefore, anyone can try to log in to your website. To stop it, you can create the admin username or make an additional security question to the page. Therefore, changing the admin login URL and making it unique won’t let hackers access it!
- You can further secure your login homepage as part of the plugin’s two-factor authentication for the WordPress site.
- It is a better security feature and prevents hackers from entering your site. It can also verify the IP address have the most failed login attempts.
- Then you can block these IP addresses from the IPs who try to access yours.
9. Update Your WordPress Version
By staying up to date on the most recent version of the software, you can help protect yourself against exposing vulnerability and exploitable data in your site. This is why it is essential to update the theme and plugin. By default, WordPress automatically downloads minor updates.
- However, you have to update your WordPress admin panel to get the latest upgrade for major updates.
- For significant updates, you should check your plugins and themes updates from your admin dashboard.
- Also, prevent your version number from users for website security.
10. Backup Your Site
It’s good practice to backup your website before making changes to your website, particularly if they’re major. If you do things wrong with the link on our web page, you can recover the web address with a click. It means that you have the chance to find the last working version of the backup site in your account without much fuss and not lose all the hard-earned work for some minor error.
11. Install WordPress Security Plugin
Tools like Wordfence and iThemes Security are helpful for monitoring website changes, ensuring that your WordPress site is even more secure.
WordFence
The popular WordPress security plugin Wordfence notifies you if your site is blacklisted for suspicious activity. It also updates its malware signatures in real-time to protect against new threats. The WordPress installation of the security plugin isn’t complex!
- Cross-Site Scripting is the most common vulnerability found in WordPress plugins.
- It’s a security flaw that allows attackers to inject malicious code into your website and perform actions like you associated with your domain. WordFence helps you deal with it!
iThemes Security
iThemes Security is a plugin that can help you improve your WordPress website’s security by implementing the best practices and guidelines. It isn’t perfect, though, as nothing replaces diligence when making sure an application stays secure.
- However, this tool does make applying those recommendations slightly less challenging for everyone to implement quickly.
- iThemes Security Pro is a powerful, reasonably-priced solution that makes securing WordPress sites easy for beginners and small bloggers.
12. Monitor The Audit Logs
When you’re in charge of running WordPress with a multi-author website, it’s essential to know what types of user activity occur. Your writers and contributors may be changing passwords without your permission, which isn’t allowed when working on the site!
The audit log is one way for admins to ensure that their users aren’t trying anything they shouldn’t, like editing themes or widgets unless given consent by an admin first!
13. Block The Hotlinking
If you’re trying to secure your WordPress website, hotlinking is when a person steals photo images from another site and shows them on their own. The other person’s server slows down due to the high bandwidth use while they absorb the cost of hosting such large files without any real benefit in return. So, be sure to prevent the issue!
14. Remove Any Unused Plugins
Unused plugins and themes are dangerous because they can be used for cyberattacks. Hackers may use these out-of-date tools to gain access to your site, which could cause damage or leaks of sensitive information if not patched quickly enough.
- Updating your plugins and themes regularly can help keep hackers out of sight, as outdated software is more likely to contain vulnerabilities exploited.
- Also, remove the ones that you don’t need to prevent issues.
15. Protect Against DDoS Attacks
DDoS attacks are common strikes against your server bandwidth. The attacker uses multiple programs and systems to overload your servers, which can ultimately crash the site for an extended period if not resolved.
- When you hear about a DDoS attack, it’s usually on big companies. People call them cyber-terrorists who conduct these attacks to wreak havoc for no good reason.
- If you’re concerned about our website’s bandwidth, we recommend signing up for a premium plan like Sucuri or Cloudflare.
- These solutions have a web application firewall to analyze and block out DDoS attacks entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How Do I Fix An HTTPS And SSL Issue In My WordPress Website?
Google has taken measures to encourage website owners to prioritize security. – If a website has not enabled HTTPS, then Google won’t give it much priority. You can convert your webserver to HTTPS by installing an SSL certificate. It’s mostly provided by hosting companies. If not, you can try using a plugin for this purpose. Also, keep the latest version of WordPress to prevent any hassle! Therefore, you can convert WordPress from HTTP to HTTPS using SSL certificates
2. Why Is It Important To Secure Your WordPress Site?
WordPress is a flexible and powerful site builder. That’s why we’re so confident with the software. Developers are also focused on hardening the core platform as long as possible. There are many easy ways to improve web security and more advanced methods you may want to take to get it right.
If someone breaks into your website, it can do much damage. That’s harmful both for your business and users. A business can lose customers and money. It would be best if you had additional measures that you could take to keep the secure WordPress site.
3. What is HTTPS?
HTTP Secure SSL is a secure encryption system that protects the connection between the browser user and your website’s service provider. It prevents hackers from eavesdropping on the link. Each website has an individual SSL certificate for authentication purposes. If a server pretends to be on HTTPS and that certificate doesn’t match, then the typical modern browsers will stop connecting with the site.
Summing Up
That was all about how to secure a WordPress site. By following the tips, you’ll be able to reduce some risks and make yourself less vulnerable to attacks from malicious software. And while knowing all about security measures might not sound very fun or exciting at first glance, what’s more important than protecting your digital assets?
If you have any questions or are looking to get help, just let us know! We’re here for you, and we want to make sure that no one can disrupt the work!
Maryam has been teaching IT as a school teacher for over a decade, and her main subject of choice is Internet safety, especially helping parents keep their families safe and secure online. When Maryam is not teaching or writing she is a big fan of the outdoors, the complete opposite of staring at a computer screen for hours.
I can’t stress this enough, ALWAYS and ALWAYS back up your website. There is no excuse not too.