As per the W3 Techs, 37.6% of websites use WordPress, providing a market share of 63.6% among numerous content management systems (CMS). Again, among the top 100 websites, 14.7% are based on WordPress.
However, its popularity often comes with a cost. WordPress is increasingly becoming the target of hackers. Sucuri claims, 94% of all website cleanup requests came from the owners of WordPress sites in 2019, a 4% increase from 2018.
Thus, if your aim is to earn those sweet dollar bills to keep your business afloat on WordPress, it is significant to get real about security.
Undeniably, WordPress is a secure platform out-of-the-box. But, there’s more you must do to protect your site from creepers and malicious intent. Most of these security enhancements are easy to implement and can be performed manually in mere minutes. Others simply require installing a specific plug-in.
In today’s comprehensive blog post, we will guide you through 10 unique strategies that will enable you to up the defense of your WordPress fortress and protect your business’s valuable data in 2021 and beyond.
Let’s dive straight in!
Table of Contents
10 WordPress Strategies To Improve The Security of The Website
Update WordPress At Regular Intervals
In the words of the reputed web developers who designed essay help websites, WordPress tends to become better, and its security gets improved too with any new release. Numerous bugs and vulnerabilities are fixed every time a new version comes out. Additionally, if any malicious bugs are discovered, the WordPress team will take care of them right away. They force a new and safe version instantly. It is significant to update such versions immediately to avoid any unknown danger.
To update your WordPress, go to the dashboard. At the top of the page, you will be able to view an announcement every time a new version is released. You need to click to update and then click on the blue ‘Update Now’ button. It only takes a few seconds to increase the security of your website by notches.
Update The Themes And Plug-ins
The same goes for plug-ins and themes. Along with regularly updating your websites, updating your current theme and plug-ins, you have installed on the site is also crucial.
Doing this will help you prevent numerous vulnerabilities, bugs, and potential security breach points. To accomplish this, go to the section of ‘Installed Plug-ins.’ The list of all of your plug-ins will appear. Click on ‘Update Now’ under each one, and they will be ready in a few seconds.
Strengthen Those Passwords
According to a recent infographic, around 8% of hacked WordPress websites were down due to weak passwords. If the password of your WordPress administrator is anything like ‘abc123’ ‘password123’ or ‘Whatismypassword,’ you need to change it to something safe immediately.
Try coming up with brilliant password recipes. If you are feeling downright lazy or bored, you can also make use of a remarkable password manager like LastPass to memorize all your passwords for you. If you are using this method, ensure your master password is strong and outstanding.
Secure The ‘wp-config.php’ File
Know that the wp-config.php file holds vital information about the WordPress installation. Since it is the most significant file in your site’s root directory, protecting it implies securing the core of the WordPress blog.
This simple tactic makes it difficult for the hackers to breach the site’s security as this specific file becomes inaccessible to them. The protection process is incredibly easy. Simply take your wp-config.php file and move it to a higher level of security.
Do Not Use ‘Admin’ As The Administrator Username
‘Admin’ is perhaps the most common username for WordPress admin users. Everybody knows this, even the hackers. Try to choose any other username over ‘admin’ and pick one with capital letters. Since you already have a WordPress website, you must now-
- Create a new user with administrative privileges
- If your prior ‘admin’ user was your only user, try assigning all blog posts and pages to the new admin user you just created
- Deleted the old ‘admin’ user
This will make it challenging for the hackers to log in to your website; however, it’s just a piece of the pie.
Implement Secure Hosting
Remember that not all web hosting providers are created equally. Hosting vulnerabilities account for a huge percentage of WordPress sites being hacked. Thus, while choosing a web hosting provider, avoid going simply for the cheapest option you can find.
Ensure to use a well-established company with a stellar track record for strong security measures. It is always worth paying a bit extra for the peace of mind you get from knowing that your site is in safe hands.
Use A Two-Factor Authentication
This is perhaps one of the most outstanding ways to protect the WordPress site from brute force attacks. You can easily take the security of your login page to the next level with the integration of two-factor authentication.
Here, you will require a password and an authorization code sent to your phone to let you log into your site. Without the combination of the password and the authorization code, you won’t be able to access the login page of your WordPress site.
Limit The Login Attempts
It can be wise to limit the number of failed login attempts from a single IP address to prevent a hacker or a bot from attempting a brute-force attack to crack open your passwords.
Limit Login Attempts will help you do that successfully. It enables you to specify the number of retries allowed and the duration an IP will be locked out for after multiple failed login attempts.
Disable The Trackbacks
Pingbacks and trackbacks inform that your content got linked from another web page. Normally, most users do not care about them so much. However, it is wise to understand that hackers can cause massive distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) or use other ‘clean’ WordPress sites to do their dirty work through these trackbacks.
Thus, if you have a new WordPress website, it is significant to disable this feature. Visit the Settings> Discussion and then uncheck the ‘Allow Link Notifications From Other Blogs’ option.
Disable File Editing Via The Dashboard
In a default WordPress installation, you can easily navigate to the segment of Appearance>Editor to edit any of your theme files right in the dashboard.
The issue is, if a hacker managed to gain access to your admin panel, they could also edit your files in the same way. They could even execute whatever they code they want to.
Thus, it is always a remarkable idea to disable this method of file editing by adding the following to your wp-confing.php file-
Wrapping Up,
Cybercriminals are constantly coming up with new ways to leverage the companies’ online presence against them, and security engineers are always creating new methods to stop them. This is an ever-turning security cycle on the internet, and we are always caught in the middle.
Though WordPress is secured and monitored daily by numerous developers, you can play your part by following essential measures and installing necessary plug-ins. The actionable strategies discussed here are only some of the easiest ways to protect the WordPress website. You can also implement many other robust ways to improve security significantly.
We will also keep you updated with other remarkable security tips to secure your WordPress sites. Till then, wish you luck and Happy WordPress hosting!
Author Bio
Clara Smith is a developer and web content specialist who now resides in the USA. Professionally, she has been working at MyEssayHelp.co.uk for 10+ years. She has engineered several unique tools like essay typer, spell checkers, citation machines, and many more for the reputed website.
