You just spent many days and sleepless nights to make a blog on WordPress or simply aWordPress website. Now that it is up and running, you are on cloud nine. What if, without a moment’s notice,it goes down due to a security loophole and you are left clueless. This is some nightmarish stuff, but fret not. Here is our detailed guide to help you cover some security patch for your WordPress website so that you have lesser things to take care of. However, you must accept the fact that maintain your WordPress website’s security is an ongoing job and will require you to get back at regular intervals to introduce new changes and make necessary fixes over time. So, let’s begin.
1. The Login StoryIf you are new to the realm of WordPress, keep this glued to the back of your head that never use “Admin” as a username for any of your WordPress websites. You might consider this a smart choice, but hackers know this. Choose a unique username with capital letters along with special characters. Also, you can consider adding a new user providing it with administration privileges. This will be indeed a nice move to make.
Strong passwords are crucial. Always make sure to choose at least a 15 characters long password that includes capital letters, special characters, numbers, and symbols in your password. You shouldn’t compromise the security of your site by keeping a simple password for the sake of easily recalling it when you require. In fact, in a list of the most common passwords for a year gone by were qwerty, 12345, 123456789 and similar ones.
To seek some help with password generation, you can use tools like Strong Password Generator . If you have a hard time recalling passwords, consider installing LastPass to your browsers.
Also, it’s imperative to limit the number of login attempts so that Brute force attacks are minimized. A brute force attack is undyingly harmful even if the attacker fails to get in. They slow down your website by consuming a chunk of processing power and your server memory. Limiting the number of log in attempts will do away with this issue. Some tools for Brute Force attack protection are Brute Force Login Protection , Login Security Solution , Login Lockdown , etc.
2. Use Trusted Plugins and ThemesA WordPress site isn’t complete without third-party plugins and themes. If you are into using them regularly, make sure that you have done your research before actually loading their zip file into your WordPress site’s database. Make sure that they have been rated well and are updated at regular intervals of time. The WP Security Audit Log plugin will make your life easier by keeping an eye on all under-the-hood changes. Also, if you have grown fond of a specific plugin, but have your doubts; you can get it audited, if you function on a large scale. For others, we recommend making Sucuri your best friend.
Free stuff lures but you shouldn’t mind putting some thought before installing a free plugin with very less number of downloads. Also, the vice-versa is true. The nutshell here is to stay cautious because these notorious security bugs can seriously mess up with your site’s security. And in case you're wondering, here's a guide on how to submit a plugin to the WordPress plugin directory .
3. A safe working environmentThis is not a big issue but might get bigger if it causes a security loophole for your WordPress property. Your computer might have a key logger installed and it might be sending your login credentials to the hacker, right away. That’s the hidden threat. Do away with any sort of malware, spyware, and viruses to ensure a safer, close working environment. Make sure that you use SSL certification to secure your WordPress site.
A good way to stay safe is to keep your files, WordPress versions and security certificates updated. Also, mobile browsing mustn’t be skipped for security checks. Never use an untrusted Wi-Fi connection. If at all you are in a situation that prompts you to do so, you must use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) app so that all the traffic generated from your device is encrypted and then sent across.
4. File and folder permissionsIn order to specify a user role of what can be read, written, modified, and accessed by a user, there is a set of rules known as File and folder permissions. By providing a three-number value to any files and folders, a specific type of permission mode is allotted to a user. If you provide a permission mode of 777, that particular user would gain complete privilege on all files and folders. Please refer to the WordPress Codex page for more permission mode information.
5. Backing up the Data
Threat can be dealt with but the loss of data is an impacting occurrence. Always back up your WordPress database files completely to tackle the unfortunate situation of lost site data. To help you with this, there are many Backup plugins available that will save the day for you. Similarly, if you forgot to backup your data, there could be a way to recover WordPress websites without a backup
6. Disable File EditingWhenever a hacker attacks your WordPress website, they head straight to edit php files, like plugin and theme files. This is their first tool. To cut this off, you must consider disabling this code execution. Just place this line in wp-config.php
_define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);_ 7. Choosing the Host Service Provider
Your WordPress site might get vulnerable because of your existing Host service provider. A good and reputable web hosting company must be chosen because they back up your data on a remote server and in case your site gets hacked, they make restoration possible. With round the clock technical support, your security issues are dealt in a swift and fixed instantly. Some awesome host service providers are Siteground , WP Engine , among others.
Wrapping upWe hope that you will follow this detailed guide that has been churned out of various WordPress security measures to provide the most common and easily executable steps to ensure optimum level of WordPress security for your website.
Author's BioKiera Hayes is a talented blogger and a digital marketing executive. She just loves to write and always on the lookout for top blogs to contribute. She follows many sports like ice hockey, soccer, and basketball.