WordPress Security Guide: Steps to Secure Your Website

Regrettably, most websites appreciate the importance of security after being hacked. WordPress is the most trusted and sought-after Content Management System for websites. 

It could owe that to its user-friendliness. Unfortunately, being popular means that it is also a common target for hackers and cybercriminals. Hacking on a website can cause unimaginable damage to business revenue. and affect the reputation of the business. 

Attackers tend to steal user information like passwords. They could also install malicious software on the website and also spread the malware to the users. In the event of a ransomware attack, a business may find itself forking out large sums to gain access to its website

The popularity of attacks on WordPress does not mean that it is an inherently insecure platform. On the contrary, paying attention to the best-proven security strategies can significantly reduce the chances of being the victim of a hack and substantially improve WordPress security. 

Frankly, it may be impossible to eliminate all risks, but utilizing the best practices minimizes the risks by a huge factor. 

Here are some steps to follow to secure your website.

Install a Firewall

One of the best ways to secure your website is using a web application firewall (WAF). What a WAF does is protect your site against HTTP application attacks. It filters out attacks by inspecting all the HTTP traffic coming to your site. 

Any suspicious or malicious threats that could ruin your site or compromise data are removed. Essentially, the malicious traffic meets a perimeter defense before it gets to your website. 

Web application firewalls could either be hardware-based, software-based, or cloud-based. Some types of firewalls you could use to secure your site are:

  • DNS Level Website Firewall: These protect by caching results and strategically denying any malicious requests based on the information in the request. They redirect traffic using their cloud proxy servers. That ensures that only legit traffic is sent to your web server. 
  • Application Level Firewall:  Here, the firewall analyses network packets before creating a connection. They examine the network packets at the application layer. 

Use a Good Hosting Company

The hosting service you are using plays a significant role in determining how secure your site is. Most shared hosting servers tend to go the extra mile and take precautions to protect the servers from common threats. 

They do this by monitoring the network for any abnormal activity. Putting in place tools to prevent DDOS attacks, they try to maintain regular updates, and they could also have measures for disaster recovery in case of an attack.

 That said, being on a shared platform where you are using your resources with other people means that you stand the risk of cross-site contamination. You could therefore opt for a dedicated WordPress hosting that ensures more WordPress security. 

Use SSL on your WordPress site

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is a protocol that ensures an encrypted connection between a website and the user’s browsers. An encrypted connection is more challenging for hackers to infiltrate. Installing an SSL certificate moves you to an HTTPS domain that has a more secure connection. 

Having an SSL certificate not only guarantees safety but is also an SEO ranking factor. So, buy cheap SSL certificate from trusted SSL providers and secure your website. 

Protect Your WordPress Login

WordPress is usually at risk of Brute force attacks if you allow many logins tries. Hackers tend to leverage this by attempting to log in with various password combinations. 

It is, therefore, necessary to limit the failed attempts a user can have. Adding multi-factor authentication also ensures that users need more than just a password to access the site. 

You can add a two-factor authentication functionality on your WordPress site by activating the Two Factor Authentication plugin. Other plugins that you can use for this are Duo Two-factor Authentication or Google Authenticator. 

Also, using strong passwords helps in preventing unauthorized access. Try to use different passwords for your various websites. That helps to mitigate damages in case of an attack. You could store the password in an encrypted database. If you keep forgetting your passwords, you could consider using a password manager. 

Update Your Themes and Plugins

Another way to reinforce your security measures is by using the latest version of WordPress, themes, and plugins. Running on outdated versions is a sure-fire way to compromise your security efforts. 

You may feel that you do not need the functionalities of the latest versions, but even so, most updates have enhanced security and bug fixes to patch up any vulnerabilities. An outdated website version is more likely to break due to unfixed bugs. 

Protect Your wp-config.php

Ensuring that the WordPress wp-config.php file is protected increases your WordPress security. The wp-config.php usually has confidential information about your WordPress installation. 

The sensitive information could range from the security keys to the database connection details. These are contents that you wouldn’t risk falling into the wrong hands. It is therefore essential that you prioritize your WordPress wp-config.php security. 

Blocking Suspicious IP Addresses

You may need to block IP addresses to block out unwanted visitors, email spams, comment spams, DDOS attacks, and hacking attempts. You may notice that your website is becoming inaccessible, or pages are taking way longer to load. 

That may be a sign of a DDOS attack. It is necessary to examine your access logs to identify any suspicious activity. That could be an extraordinarily high number of requests coming from a particular IP Address. 

Check Activity log

Activity logs help track all undertakings on your website. Checking activity logs assist in ensuring the utmost security. You are more likely to pinpoint a problem on your site when you do regular log checks. 

It is especially essential if your site has multiple users. Checking the activity logs ensures that you are aware of any suspicious activities before they successfully attack your site. In the event of a brute force attack, you can easily block the hacker’s IP before they cause any damages to your platform. 

Conclusion

Cybercriminals are usually lurking, waiting for opportunities to attack. Keeping on top of things in matters of cybersecurity ensures that you stay safe from malicious attacks. 

p538428
Login/Register access is temporary disabled