WordPress security is a topic of massive importance for every website owner and getting your website hacked is one of the worst things that can happen to your business. It’s becoming easier to hack a site that isn’t secure, and a lot of users using WordPress-based websites know this to be true either based on their own experience, or someone else’s bad experiences.
So the key question is, “What can you do to save my site from being hacked?” In this article, we will share all the top WordPress security tips to help you protect your website from malware and hackers.
Keep Everything Up-To-Date
Every good developer supports their software by providing updates and WordPress update are frequent. You have to make sure that your WordPress core, plugins, and theme are up to date with the latest versions. These WordPress updates are crucial for the stability and security of your WordPress site.
The updates are meant to fix bugs, and if your WordPress is not up-to-date, it means serious trouble, many hackers exploit bugs that have already been fixed. So, if you’re using WordPress products, follow feeds to find out the latest updates. Most themes and plug-ins will automatically come to when there is a new version available and it is imperative that you as a website owner or webmaster immediately keep on top of these updates so you can keep the website you are managing up to date.
Keep Regular Backups
Backups are vital to running a site Because you never know what can happen it is always a good idea to have your site fact of that daily or weekly intervals. Even if your site is hacked, you can quickly restore your WordPress website to a working state, remove the entire data and restart all your security, change all your access passwords and re-upload your WordPress website within a day itself.
There are a lot of online options for WordPress backups. You have a number of options such as cloud backups or local backups and the difference between the two is that in one scenario your website is backed up in the cloud, and in the other scenario your website is backed up to your local computer. You can also purchase an external hard disk and perform daily backups of your entire website to keep your files on an offline medium.
Overall performing a regular backup of your site will help your website when gets hacked. With the client websites I work on, I ensure that they are backed up on a daily interval, and for really crucial websites like e-commerce I am sure they are backed up in real time.
Use Strong Login Details
“Admin” is the default WordPress login, and most hackers know that. Change this to something else that would be tough to guess, and this is where tools like LastPass and 1Password come into play to generate something ugly and long for you. You save the link, passcode, and move on with your day.
Hackers try to brute force the passcode or try to combine different characters until the passcode is “guessed,” but if your password is strong, you should be fine. Play around with your WordPress website’s passwords and change them regularly. Improve their strength by adding lowercase and uppercase letters, special characters, and numbers.
Use 2-factor Authentication
The 2-factor authentication at the login page is another excellent security measure. This process requires anyone who tries to enter the website to go through a two-pronged entry point before they can actually access the administration panel of the website. So in other words, they have to have the code for two doors before they can access your website’s administration back-end. It significantly increases website security.
Using two-factor authentication secures your website. This feature is key to helping to reduce the risk of such attacks that may break into your website’s backend and attempt to scramble your website. Google’s Authentication plugin is an excellent example of a 2FA plugin that can be installed to secure your WordPress website’s login.
Set Directory Permissions Carefully
Browsing the directory of your site is one-way hackers learn more about your site and potentially devise a way to hack into it. Changing files and directory permissions is a good move to secure the website and sidestep a significant amount of malicious traffic tapping on your door at the hosting level.
If you just create a new directory as part of your WordPress website, do not install an index.html file in it because visitors can get a full directory listing of everything that’s in that directory. Disable the directory browsing so that no one will be able to see the internal layout of your website.
Final Words
WordPress security is one of the most fundamental aspects of running a WordPress website these days, as there are a lot of malicious people out there who are trying to hack your website but I hope you’ll be able to employ these tips with your own WordPress site to keep your website secure from malicious attacks. Everything that I have mentioned in this article is a step in the right direction. And if you need further assistance in securing your WordPress website, let me know when the contact form.
