10 ways to secure a wordpress website

 

10 Steps to Secure a WordPress Website

A recent 2020 statistics by hosting tribunal, shows that WordPress powers about 35 percent of the Internet's total websites, and more than 400 million Internet users visit WordPress websites every month. WordPress is one of the world’s most popular content management systems and it’s used by many sites worldwide.

Two factors that contributed to WordPress' extensive usability is its affordability and security. WordPress is an excellent and secure platform for content management. Sadly, WordPress websites are becoming prone to intrusive attacks. WordPress Whitesecurity analyzed a statistic showing that more than 70 percent of WordPress installations are vulnerable. 

In the same vein, a report by we live security also asserts that a million WordPress websites are targeted in massive hacking campaigns by unidentified threat actors. This intrusion into many WordPress websites is becoming more prevalent.

As such, never toy with the security of your WordPress website, make it as secure as possible. Though you can't achieve 100% security from hackers and malware perpetrators, you can increase the chances of your WordPress website safety. Why subject your website to chances of malicious activities by vicious hackers when you can follow some steps to prevent them? Here are ten steps to enable you to secure your WordPress website.

Install a WordPress Backup

Why should you consider backing up your WordPress website when there's a hosting company backup? The thing is hosting company backups aren't explicitly designed for WordPress and might not help when there's a problem with your WordPress website. 

Also, website host backups aren't regularly scheduled and might not be available for you in case of a disaster with the WordPress website. If you ever need to recover from backup, your hosting company primarily determines such, and that isn't always efficient enough. Therefore, consider maintaining your own set of backups using software specially designed for WordPress. Doing so puts you in the driving seat of when and how frequent your backups should be, and where they are stored. If there’s any negative occurrence, backups allow you to restore your WordPress website promptly. There are many free and paid backup plug-ins that you can use for your WordPress website. However, a significant factor to consider when it comes to backups is to regularly and frequently save your full-website backup to a remote location that’s not your hosting account.

Use a Security Plugin

After backing up your site, the next step to consider is to set up an auditing and monitoring system that keeps track of everything that happens on your site. An auditing and management system, popularly known as security plug-in, will help you ensure your files' integrity, malware scanning, core scanning, and more. 

 You need a security plug-in due to the installation of themes on your website which contains bugs that can be exploited. You can avoid this by the use of the best security plug-in, WordPress Security Ninja, which will provide plug-in scans for over fifty different known issues to block malicious activities on your WordPress website. Security ninja also offers a complete scan of all your WordPress files and also checks themes and plug-ins one after the other with a powerful heuristic scanner to detect patterns and code samples in your plug-ins and themes. This is to alert you of any suspicious files. Your website is highly secured with Security Ninja. 

Choose a Good Hosting Company

Your hosting company has a significant role to play in securing your WordPress website. A good hosting company works meticulously in the background to protect its WordPress websites and to prevent large scale DDOS attacks with continuous monitoring of its network for any suspicious activity. You can  choose a shared WordPress hosting plan or a managed WordPress hosting service. However, going for a managed hosting service provider, your WordPress website is more secured through the automatic backups, frequent updates, and advanced security configurations of a managed hosting company.

Update Your WordPress Website Regularly

WordPress, as an open-source software, is regularly updated and maintained. There is a periodic installation of minor updates into every WordPress website, by the WordPress management system. However, there are regular major updates you need to install manually to ensure your WordPress website functions optimally. Likewise, third-party developers of thousands of themes and plug-ins used for WordPress websites also release updates regularly which you can install to keep your WordPress core, plug-ins, and themes up to date, and  thereby ensure its security and stability. 

Use a Strong Password

Malicious individuals use password generators to subtly general weak passwords to gain unauthorized access into WordPress websites. Therefore, consider using a strong password, especially on the administrator, editor, and author pages of your WordPress website. Refrain from using simple passwords such as "password 123," which can be easily detected. Use complex ones consisting of upper and lower cases with numbers for your FTP account, database, WordPress hosting account, custom email address, and also on the administrator's section.

Limit Login Attempts

WordPress freely allows users to attempt logging in to their websites without a limited number of trials. However, this is unsafe for your WordPress website as it makes it vulnerable to brute force attacks from hackers. Therefore, consider limiting the number of login attempts on your WordPress website to prevent any unauthorized access. 

Change the Default "Admin" Username

The default WordPress administrator's username was "admin," which made it easier for hackers to access many WordPress websites since most login credentials require a username. Fortunately, WordPress now requires users to choose a custom username during their WordPress installation. Consider creating a new username and delete the "admin" username to prevent attack on your WordPress website. 

Enable an SSL Service

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a software protocol that encrypts the data transferred between WordPress websites and users' browsers. The encryption makes it extremely hard for any unwanted individual to sniff around and steal information, thus ensuring high security of WordPress sites. Once you enable SSL, your website's URL will automatically change to HTTPS, and there is a padlock sign next to your website address, which shows that all your data is encrypted.

Add Two-Step Authentication

Two-step authentication, also known as two-factor authentication, requires users to access their website's accounts with a two-step authentication method. The first step is using a username and password, while the second procedure is using a separate device or application for authentication to highly prevent hackers from accessing WordPress accounts.

Use a Secured Internet Connection

A secured Internet  connection allows you to send wireless data from one device to another, secured with a strong password and encryption. Consider employing the services of Internet  service providers such as EarthLink for affordable, and high-speed Internet service that will enable you to run your WordPress website efficiently.

Conclusion

There are lots of other options for securing your website, but the above steps are very vital in ensuring top-notch safety of your WordPress website. Even though you can't protect your WordPress website totally, you can reduce its vulnerability to attacks to a remarkable level.