Learn Basics of WordPress Security- Your Ultimate Guide
The topic of WordPress security is of utmost importance to every website owner. Each week, Google blacklists more than 10,000 websites for malware and 50,000 for phishing.
You should pay attention to the WordPress security best practices if you are serious about your website. The following tips will help you protect your website from hackers and malware.
Despite the fact that WordPress core software is very secure, and it is regularly audited by hundreds of developers, there is a lot you can do to ensure your site is secure.
We at Mpiric Software, a website development and designing company believe security is not just about risk elimination. Risk reduction is equally important. There are several things you can do as a website owner to ensure that your WordPress site is secure (even if you’re not technically inclined).
There are several steps you can take to protect your website against security vulnerabilities through our ultimate WordPress security guide.
Let’s get started!
Why Website Security is Important?
A hacked WordPress website poses a significant risk to your business’ reputation and revenue. Hackers can steal user information, install malware, and even transmit malware to your users.
More than 50 million website users were warned by Google in March 2016 that a website they’re visiting may contain malware or steal personal information. Additionally, Google blacklists 20,000 websites for malware and 50,000 for phishing every week.
If you own a business website, you should pay extra attention to your WordPress security.
User permissions and strong passwords
WordPress hacking attempts are most often conducted using stolen passwords. This can be avoided by creating strong unique passwords. Not only for WordPress admin areas, but also for FTP accounts, databases, WordPress hosting accounts, and custom email addresses that use your site’s domain name.
In addition to limiting the risks, do not grant anyone access to your WordPress admin account unless absolutely necessary. When adding new user accounts and authors to your WordPress site, be sure to understand user roles and capabilities in WordPress.
Keeping WordPress up to date
WordPress is a free and open source application that is regularly maintained and updated. WordPress will automatically install minor updates by default but major updates must be initiated manually.
A WordPress website can also be customized with thousands of plugins and themes and are regularly updated by third-party developers. The WordPress updates are essential for the security and stability of your WordPress website. Make sure your WordPress core, plugins, and theme are updated.
WordPress Hosting Role
When it comes to WordPress security, the hosting service that you choose is of utmost importance. Providers like Bluehost and Siteground ensure that their servers are protected against common threats by taking extra measures.
Here are how web hosting companies protect your websites and data in the background.
- Their network is continuously monitored for suspicious activity.
- Good hosting companies have tools in place to combat large-scale DDOS attacks.
- To prevent hackers from exploiting a known vulnerability in an old version of their software, php versions, and hardware, they stay up to date.
- Disaster recovery and backup plans are available to protect your data in the event of a catastrophic event.
Best WordPress Security Plugin
After we set up backups, the next step is to set up an auditing and monitoring system that keeps track of all the activity on the website. It includes monitoring file integrity, monitoring failed login attempts, scanning for malware, etc.
With Sucuri Scanner, one of the best free WordPress security plugins, all of this can be taken care of.
Enable Web Application Firewall (WAF)
A web application firewall (WAF) is the best way to secure your WordPress site and feel confident in your WordPress security. A website firewall blocks all malicious traffic before it even reaches your website.
DNS Level Website Firewall – These firewalls route website traffic through their cloud proxy server. This allows them only to send real traffic to your webserver.
Application Level Firewall– These firewall plugins inspect the traffic before it reaches your server, but before it loads most WordPress scripts. This method does not reduce server load as well as the DNS-level firewall.