A majority of websites from across the world make use of WordPress as their development platform. With increasing use of WordPress, it comes under cyber attacks by hackers very often.
If your website is hosted using WordPress, you should know about the security best practices for your website.
So, let’s have a detailed discussion of the same.
11 Best Practices for Security of WordPress Websites
Let’s have a look at the best practices you should follow for security of your WordPress website. This will help in hassle free operation of your business.
#1 Use the Latest Version of WordPress
WordPress is open-source software which is regularly updated. Although, minor updates are automatically installed for major updates that need manual intervention.
WordPress comes bundled with themes and plugins, maintained by third-party developers, who release updates.
All these updates are crucial for the stability and security of your WordPress website.
#2 Use Strong Passwords & User Permissions
The most common hacking attempts on WordPress websites involve the use of stolen passwords. However, this can be easily addressed by keeping strong and unique passwords.
This is not just for WordPress admin area but also for FTP accounts, WordPress hosting accounts, databases and custom email addresses.
You should not give anyone access to your WordPress admin account unless absolutely necessary.
#3 Install a WordPress BackUp Solution
Backups are your first line of defense in case of any hacking attempt. You should remember that nothing is fully secure. Backups will help in restoring your WordPress site, in case of hacking attempts.
There are many free as well as paid WordPress backup plugins. You must regularly save full
website backups at a remote location.
It is recommended to store it on cloud services like Amazon, Dropbox or private clouds. You should do it either once a day or in real-time.
#4 Install a Good WordPress Security Plugin
After working on backups, next you should set up an auditing and monitoring system. This will keep a track of everything that will happen on your website.
Activities like failed login attempts, file integrity monitoring, and malware scanning will be monitored.
Sucuri WordPress security plugin is very powerful and should be installed.
#5 Enable Two-factor Authentication for WP Admin
You should activate two-factor authentication to enhance the security of the login process of your WordPress website.
This adds a second layer of security to your WordPress website as it requires inputting an unique code to login to the website.
The code is available only via a text message or a third-party authentication. For this, you need to install a third-party app like Google Authenticator on your mobile.
#6 Limit the Number of Login Attempts Allowed
WordPress allows users to make an unlimited number of login attempts on their website. Due to this, hackers can get access to your website by trying various combinations.
So, you should always limit the number of failed login attempts allowed. You should monitor any IP address that reaches the maximum number of login attempts allowed.
There are many WordPress plugins that can help you with this. Let’s have a look.
Loginizer: It offers many security features like 2FA, reCAPTCHA, and login challenge questions.
Limit Login Attempts Reloaded: This plugin configures the number of failed attempts for a specific IP address.
#7 Have Appropriate User Roles
You may invite other people to contribute and write for your website. Most group blogs have multiple authors and editorial workflows.
You should set different roles for each user that you add to your website. Each of these roles will have different levels of permission.
Administrators: They have full control over your website.
Editors: They can edit/publish all users’ posts, manage tags, categories, and moderate comments.
Author: They can publish their own posts, but cannot edit other authors’ posts.
Contributor: They have a very limited role; they can share blogs but cannot publish them.
You should be very careful when assigning roles and should give administrator roles only to people whom you trust.
Guest bloggers should only be given contributor roles, and author/editor roles should be given to in-house content team members.
#8 Move to SSL/HTTPS
SSL or Secure Sockets Layer enhances your WordPress website security by encrypting the data being exchanged between the web server and user’s browser.
You can purchase your SSL certificate from a hosting provider or use a free one. Next, you need to install and activate the certificate via your hosting account.
Update your WordPress URL by navigating to settings and force SSL by adding the relevant code to your .htaccess file.
#9 Use the Latest PHP Version
You should use the latest version of PHP for your WordPress website, as it is the backbone of your site. Each release of PHP receives support for two years, in which security issues and bugs are removed.
However, once a version’s life is over, it will no longer receive updates. So, if any WordPress website is running on that outdated version, it will be exposed to unfixed security issues.
Current statistics reveal that there are still a large number of WordPress sites which run on old versions of PHP, which is a security concern.
#10 Go For Secure WordPress Hosting
Security of a WordPress website starts with a secure hosting provider. If your hosting environment is vulnerable, it does not matter how many security plugins you have installed.
If your hosting environment is not secure, you will be vulnerable to malware infections, DDoS attacks, and outdated server software.
A secure hosting platform should have enterprise-level firewalls, automated malware scanning, secure server isolation, automatic server updates, daily backups, and rollback options.
When hackers look for weaknesses, they begin from the server itself.
#11 Focus on Database Security
If you secure your WordPress database, it will add an extra layer of defense against attacks. This can simply be done by using a unique database name and not the default formats.
It becomes easier for hackers to identify a website’s database from its name, so change the name to something less predictable.
Another aspect is modifying the default database table prefix from wp_ to something vague like 39xw_. This will prevent automated malware attacks, which are known to target standard table structures.
This should be done during WordPress installation, or it will have to be changed with the right precautions.
Wrapping Up…
Now you know 11 ways in which WordPress security can be made foolproof. If you follow most of these best practices, your website will be secure, and hackers will stay away from it.
For many of you, your WordPress website is your source of income, so you can take nothing for granted and should know all about WordPress security. As they say, “Prevention is better than cure”.
For your website design and development requirements, get in touch with Macovin Web Co.
