WordPress runs more than 40% of online websites. That is why it is the target of hackers and cybercriminals. They exploit the technical vulnerabilities of the software and take away the hard-established assets.
Although WordPress has a robust security mechanism, which is updated from time to time. Your site can be at risk of ignoring security measures.
9 Tips To Secure Your WordPress Website From Hackers
These nine tips will help you in defending the possible cyber threats. Let’s explore them one by one.
Use Secure Web Hosting
Shared web hosting is more vulnerable and easy to penetrate. Instead, choose a trusted and secure web hosting that offers complete security. In addition, your hosting provider must give malware scanning for instant actions on possible cyber attacks.
VPS and cloud hosting are good options to keep websites and resources separate from others. However, your Hosting plan must include regular backups, an SSL certificate, and quick support.
Install Safe Themes & Plugins
Most sites are exposed to cybercriminals through crack themes and plugins. Beginners try to find cost-effective solutions. Thus they buy nulled or GPL themes, which are at high risk of penetration.
Always install simple themes and plugins from the WordPress directory and keep them up to date. ThemeForest is yet another good option to purchase premium themes with security.
Keep WordPress Version, Themes & Plugins Updated
WordPress versions and security updates are released frequently. Such updates are intended to fix security and performance-related problems.
Once the version update is done, all the themes and plugins will likely be updated as per the latest version.
Check your website updates from the dashboard and complete them regularly. Then, back up your site before attempting the version updates.
Enable the auto-update option for WordPress security and minor updates. It will reduce the risk of penetration.
Enable SSL Certificate
SSL certificate helps in keeping users and website information secure from hackers. It also helps boost SEO because the security lock is a Google search ranking factor.
Google has recently added HTTPS lookup in the new Search Console. However, if your site does not use an SSL certificate, it will hurt your SEO.
Many companies like Hostinger offer free SSL certificates in most of their hosting plans. It restricts hackers from stealing the user data like personal and payment information.
Delete Inactive Themes And Plugins
The inactive themes and plugins badly impact website performance and security. Delete the theme from the plugin and themes section.
Website health screens help in finding out such critical issues. Keep checking from time to time and delete such things. They can aid attackers in penetrating your website.
Protect The WP Admin Login
WP admin login is the prime target of attackers. Once they log in to your admin area, removing other admins and users is easy.
Invalid usernames and login passwords are easy to crack through brute-force attacks. Instead, use strong passwords that combine words, numbers, symbols, and characters. They are harder to crack and guess for hackers.
Change your login usernames and passwords frequently, which can be done quickly through the WordPress users section.
Scan Malware Regularly
Thousands of new malware can attack your website hiddenly. That is why you need to scan your WordPress website regularly.
You can use security plugins like WordFence, Sucuri, and BulletProof Security to perform this action. This practice can save you from hacking attempts.
Block Unlimited Login Attempts
Hackers can use different login combinations to access the admin dashboard if you don’t block the unlimited login attempts on your WordPress website.
Many WordPress plugins like Loginizer and Limit Login Attempts Reloaded enable this feature on your website. They block the suspicious IPs from attempting login.
Sometimes you may also get locked out. So be mindful and learn the other ways to access in such scenarios.
Restrict Your .htacess File
The .htaccess file has particular importance in website access and control. It is a sensitive file that blocks access to website pages and files.
Website security can be improved by customizing .htaccess files with different access rules. For example, you can restrict anyone from accessing the wp-config.php file containing the database details and other key settings. Suspicious IPs can also be banned through this file.
Rules can be set to refrain hackers from uploading .php files in the wp-content uploads folder. However, it is a sensitive time, always take your previous file and complete it before making any changes.
Any unwanted rule can restrict the search engines to no-index your website URLs. Therefore, it will hurt your website indexing and search ranking.
You should consult an experienced WordPress developer if something goes wrong to avoid the above issues.
