Security is not always about building fort walls around, sometimes you just have to pinpoint the most vulnerable areas where a possible attack can happen and secure those areas or strengthen them. The same goes for securing a WordPress website. If you take a few security precautions and check on the vulnerable areas, you are good to go with launching your WordPress website. This practice will reduce the risks of potential attacks like brute force attacks and SSL injections. You need to be very careful before taking any action on the website like installing plugins, themes, adding images as these actions can weaken the security of your website if you don’t take precautions. Having a routine security check is advisable because security is a continuous process and the process needs to be updated regularly.

Steps to Be Taken to Improve Security

To improve security for the WordPress website, there are some key factors, which are very useful and can save your website from potential attackers. There are some best practices for improving the security of a WordPress website.

Secure Hosting

Hosting plays a huge part in securing a WordPress website. Choosing a good hosting service provider is a very important and very easy first step to be taken to improve the security of your website. Don’t go for a cheap or free hosting provider, as you may lose your data or your data can be compromised with. Maybe you will have to pay a little more but always go with a trusted hosting service provider. Choose hosting plans which include security scan and full-time support system. Based on the kind of data you are accessing and generating, choose your hosting services carefully. Choose a service provider who can assure you of the security of your privacy and integrity.

Regular Updates and Back-ups

Updates for WordPress websites are as important as the Yoga for your body, you can choose to ignore it, but you will eventually have to do it. An updated WordPress website tends to be more secure and less vulnerable to attacks. Although WordPress install minor updates by default, for major updates, you will have to do it yourself or you can ask your agencies who provide WordPress maintenance and support. These companies have different types of plans curated for your maintenance needs. Most updates are about eliminating the pre-identified loopholes and bugs, so that helps in keeping your WordPress website safe and secure.

Limiting Login Attempts and Monitoring

Most potential attacks happen to get access to the WordPress dashboard like the brute force attacks. The brute force attackers try to login to the dashboard by using forceful login attempts. By limiting attempts the risk of a potential attacker being able to break-in to the dashboard reduces. The hackers will be locked out of your site in their attempt to forcefully login, and you will also get notified about these attempts so you can monitor these attempts. If these attempts are frequent you can create some other security measures to stop these attacks like two-factor verification.

Using Latest PHP Versions

If you are developing and customizing your WordPress website yourself, then you should use the latest version of PHP for programming. If you are outsourcing the development of WordPress website and then make sure your web developer is using the latest version of PHP as well. Working with the latest version of PHP makes the website less vulnerable to attacks like source code revelation and cross-site scripting.

Rename Login URL and Admin Username

Keeping the default URL for login like xyz.com/wp-admin is the most common security mistake done by most WordPress website owners. You should include this into your habit for a secure website, to change the default login URL to something customized and complex. Same goes for the admin username, most websites keep the common username such as ‘Admin’ or ‘Wp-admin’ etc. These usernames are easy to guess and 50% of hackers work has been done by when you keep the default login URL and username for your WordPress website. This is mostly ignored but very important step towards securing your WordPress website.

Use Premium or Customized Themes

WordPress is an amazing platform to start building your website almost free, as it provides free themes and plugins to assist you in developing your website. But one can argue that you get what you paid for. There are some good free themes to be used for your website initially when you are just starting up with a WordPress website, but you can’t rely on them for the security of your data and privacy. On the other hand, premium themes on WordPress are developed by professional and experienced developers, so they worth what you pay in terms of security. And if you have a nice budget for your WordPress website development, you can find custom WordPress theme developers for a much secure option.

Strong And Secure Passwords

Keeping strong and secure passwords is a very important habit to be developed for a secure website, in the digital world. It may sound very obvious but this is also most ignored as well. Using a combination of characters rather than obvious phrases and patterns helps to keep the password secure and difficult to guess. A strong password will not only secure the content on your website but also helps in keeping attackers from gaining access to the WP dashboard. A secure password is more 15 characters long, and it doesn’t include key phrases like your name, username, ‘admin’, company name or common phrases.

The methods described above may seem very obvious, but this is the sole reason that most WordPress website owners tend to ignore or overlook them, and hackers use this ignorance for their benefit. Building these security habits can reduce the risks of being attacked by 34%. There are many security plugins by WordPress, which can be used to secure the data and privacy of a website. If you are using all of the above methods to keep your WordPress website secure and still being attacked by hackers, you should consult with expert WordPress security consultants, to build a strategy to keep your website and secure and safe from malicious attacks.