Millions of websites on the internet use WordPress as their content management system(CMS), and the number of WordPress users never ceases to surprise me. However, it is also agreeable that the vast number of users is due to its extraordinary performance.

But it also gains attention from hackers and is often prone to many modern-day attacks. But they say, “To gain something, lose something” for a reason, no? Though WordPress is the main attraction for hackers, it remains one of the best content management systems. So, we must accept that fact and take measures to secure websites from all kinds of threats.

Common Attacks On WordPress Websites

To secure a website, you must know the different ways in which it can get attacked. However, it’s not easy to learn about all attacks because there’s a never-ending list of them. However, it is best to know about the most common attacks and take the necessary steps to prevent your website exposure.

Refer to the following article to learn more!

The Most Common Web Attacks & Prevention – Explained(2021)

Ways To Secure WordPress Websites From Modern Day Attacks

While you hear a lot of suggestions from fellow users, there are a few important ones that I’d like to point out. But whenever you hear a security tip, try implementing it on your website; it’ll help you out in the long run. Here are the ways to secure a WordPress website from modern-day attacks:

Install All Updates

I don’t remember the countless times I’ve suggested in my articles to keep everything on a website up-to-date. It is crucial to update WordPress software, plugins, themes, and PHP to the latest versions.

Updates carry fixes and solutions to many of the known vulnerabilities and increase the protection of your website. Also, if your website isn’t up-to-date with the updates, it’ll probably gain attention from hackers, which you certainly don’t want. 

WordPress’s core programming language is PHP, and it is essential to update it whenever possible because most of the older versions contain security vulnerabilities. So, what are you waiting for, now? Try to update everything you can get your hands on.

Strengthen Your Website With HTTP Authentication

Change WordPress Salts And Security Keys Regularly

Once you use your website’s username and password, WordPress makes it easy for us by auto-filling the login credentials for the subsequent login attempts. You might wonder how secure it is, and you are partially right(or wrong?) To ensure the safety of your website login details,

WordPress gives WordPress salts and security keys to its users that encrypt the usernames and passwords. However, these unique authenticators can get stolen by hackers. To prevent that from happening, we must change them regularly.

Refer to this article to learn more about WordPress security keys and the ways to change them.

What Are WordPress Salts And Security Keys?

Login Page Customization

The title sounds like I want you all to pretty up the login page, but no. The customization I’m referring to is only relevant to improving your WordPress website security. The path we use to visit a website’s login page is common to all, and everybody knows it, including hackers. 

Hence, brute-force attacks are commonly occurring on all WordPress websites. A simple solution to this issue is by hiding the login page by customizing the URL or adding a specific key to it. We can achieve that by using the Hide My WP security plugin(you can also use the free version “Hide My WP lite”)

Refer to the following article to learn more about login page customization.

How And Why To Hide The WordPress Login Page?

Prevent Multiple Login Attempts

Multiple login attempts are a sign that someone is trying to gain unauthorized access to your website. The obvious reaction to this situation is for us to take prevent it from happening any further. WordProvides many plugins that detect non-stop login attempts.

I recommend using the Hide My WP WordPress security plugin because it blocks all threatening IP addresses; it has a Trust Network containing a list of known harmful IP addresses.

Refer to the following article to learn more about multiple login attempts.

How to Stop Non-Stop Login Attempts on a WordPress Site?

Use Strong Passwords

While everyone knows this, few still ignore this for multiple reasons that I cannot fathom. However, most brute-force attacks get successful due to weak passwords and usernames. Instead, try using unconventional usernames rather than admin and unpredictable passwords to enhance website security.

Use Unique Database Prefixes

Using default prefixes is one of the most common security mistakes that lead to SQL injection attacks. But creating custom prefixes will help prevent these kinds of cyberattacks. Various security plugins can help you with that. 

Monitor User Activity Logs

Monitoring user activity is quite helpful in ensuring a website’s security. Knowing everything that happens on your website will give you the power over security faults and issues. Many people resolve security vulnerabilities with the help of security audit logs, and you can do it too.

Refer to the following article to learn more about monitoring user activity logs.

How To Monitor User Activity In WordPress – Security Audit Logs

Hide Your WordPress Version Number

You may think, “What’s it gonna do?” It’s a minute small detail, but a hacker can use that for his benefit too. As we have discussed earlier, WordPress updates contain fixes to vulnerabilities.

So, if you choose to disclose your WordPress version number, you are practically making it easy for him to figure out the vulnerabilities of your current software version.

You can hide the WordPress version number by changing the functions.php file and adding “remove_version” to the file.

Use A WordPress Security Scanner

I think we can all agree that finding out the flaws in our website is better than a hacker exposing them to us. The best way to determine all the security vulnerabilities of your website is by using a WordPress security scanner. Scan My WP is one of the best security scanners that can easily find out all the security issues of your websites.

Install Plugins And Themes From Authorized Sellers

Sometimes users knowingly or unknowingly install plugins from unauthorized sellers. Installing nulled or pirated plugins and themes can negatively impact your website’s security.

If you cannot afford an add-on, many plugins are also available in free versions. For instance, Hide My WP is a premium plugin having a free version named Hide My WP lite.

Refer to the following article to learn more about the harms of using nulled plugins and themes.

Why You Must Avoid Nulled WordPress Plugins & Themes

Always Backup Your WordPress Website

All the previous measures I’ve mentioned before help in preventing attacks on your website. But this step will help you ensure that if your website gets hacked, you will have your backup to revive your website.

Not only for this reason, but you can confidently make changes to your website knowing that you have your backup if something goes wrong. Make sure to back up your website regularly.

Refer to the following article to learn more about website backups.

How to Back Up Your Website, and Why It’s Important

Use A Security Plugin

As you have noticed already, a website can be attacked in many ways, and blocking all those attacks on your own can be difficult and stressful.

For that reason, many WordPress users opt for WordPress security plugins because it does their work by protecting their websites. 

Here are some best features of the Hide My WP security plugin:

• It can hide that you are a WordPress user.
• It lets you hide all default paths, wp-admin paths, ajax-paths, category, tag, search, and feed paths.
• It allows you to replace anything like URLs and texts in your website source code.
• It will hide your website plugins and themes from online detectors and bots.
• It will disable direct access to PHP files and directory listings.
• It has a firewall that will help you block lethal attacks like XSS, CSRF, Command Injection, and many more.

Conclusion

WordPress is a popular CMS(for a good reason) and attracts a lot of focus of hackers on the internet. However, you can not escape hackers just by changing the CMS. The security measures you take are the only means that will assist you in protecting your websites. So make sure to implement as many security steps as you can to your WordPress websites.