WordPress being an easy to use and flexible Content Management System is popular among the masses especially Content Creators, Artists, Tech Geeks, Businesses, and Professionals.
Being so popular it becomes an obvious target for Scammers, Attackers to carry out various attacks, exploit WordPress vulnerabilities, and to bring down the website and steal confidential/personal data for their own benefit.
Once Stolen the data would make its ways to the dark web, it becomes a very dangerous situation where personal identity is at stake and can be used for illegal purposes across the globe.
If you are a WordPress website owner you probably know what goes behind in running a successful website/business and that when someone unauthorized tries to take control over it. You can’t do much but wait and watch as the support team do their work and try to fix the hacking attempt.
This becomes a serious issue and can’t be ignored, it could happen with anyone and can’t be fully avoided. The least you can do is be prepared with the best defense mechanism and an updated WordPress website with the latest security patches.
Tips To make WordPress Secure
At first, you might be wondering is your WordPress really secure? Well, Yes to some extent! WordPress is prone to security vulnerabilities and is sometimes referred to as a ‘not so safe’ platform for doing business. Though the problem is not always with WordPress.
Most often security is hampered when its users don’t update their WordPress on time, Use of outdated plugins, Using the same passwords in all of their accounts, and not change them frequently, Lack of web security knowledge among non-techie WordPress users is also a major reason of WordPress sites being hacked.
So basically users need to be guided for the best security practices and they must be made aware of the threats of using outdated software on their WordPress website.
Also Read, How to fix Cross Site Scripting Vulnerability in WordPress?
#1 Use the Latest Version of WordPress along with Updated Plugins and Themes
One of the best ways of strengthening WordPress security is by having an updated WordPress website. You must have the latest security updates of the WordPress Core, Plugins, and Themes.
You should not hesitate to update the WordPress as soon as you see An updated version of WordPress is available. message on the admin dashboard. The update brings along the latest security enhancements and bug fixes that are essential for the smooth functioning of your WordPress.
Sadly, most of the businesses will still run on outdated versions of WordPress or with Plugins that are no longer supported and they would have their own sweet reason for not upgrading as it may break their site, or cause some plugins to fail and would cost them huge to further upgrade.
#2 Hide Login Page
Hiding your login page or changing the login path is the easiest way to beef up your WordPress security. Basically you log in to your WordPress with the login URL like mysite.com/wp-admin this being the default WordPress login URL is known by the bots, scripts, and hackers.
This can be an easy target for attackers and will be prone to brute force attacks. One of the best ways to prevent this is by changing the default login URL to some unusual path. Though this does not guarantee to fix the hacking attempts but it can be considered as a trick to prevent it.
To change the default WordPress login URL we recommend using Hide My WP WordPress Plugin in this plugin you can Add a Login Query and a Login Key to the URL without which you cannot enter your WordPress website.
Or Change the Login URL and Add a New wp-admin Path from the Permalinks tab with the Hide My WP Plugin.
This adds an extra layer of security to your WordPress website. With Hide My WP Plugin you can also get notified whenever someone tries to visit the WordPress default login page. You can also hide the website from Theme Detectors like detectmywp.com and hide the fact that you are using a WordPress website.
#3 Hide WordPress Version
Hiding your WordPress version is also an important move to secure your WordPress. The fewer people know about your site’s configuration and systems in use the better it would be. Your website’s source code can act as a welcome sign to attackers and intruders.
Your WordPress version is publically visible on the header section of your site’s code. You have to be technically sound to hide the WordPress version info manually by altering the theme’s functions.php file.
If you have Hide My WP Plugin installed, then you just need to click on the Remove Version option in the plugin and the WordPress version number will be removed from the source code.
Also, you can find the Version number in the default readme.html that is located in the root of your WordPress installation. You can have it removed by deleting the file from mysite.com/readme.html via FTP. If you are on WordPress 5.0 and higher the version number is no longer included in the file.
#4 Install an SSL Certificate and use HTTPS
HTTPS(HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) is a security mechanism by which the browser or a web application can securely connect to the requested website. You don’t always need to be accepting payments for enabling SSL on your website.
You can have the SSL activated form your hosting provider.
SSL has many benefits and is just not limited to online commerce.
- HTTPS helps in maintaining a secure connection whereas in HTTP the data is transferred in plain text that can be easily intercepted by any third party over the network.
- HTTPS helps in ranking the page as google recommends using it and can land you in a better SERP position.
- HTTPS helps in avoiding browser warnings like the “Not Secure” warning we get on the address bar when visiting sites that do not have HTTPS enabled.
- Referral data of sites with HTTP is blocked in Google Analytics and there are no restrictions as such on HTTPS.
#5 Use WordPress Security Plugin for Overall Protection
We would highly recommend using Hide My WP – WordPress Security Plugin as your WordPress Watch Dog.
We can say so because Hide My WP is a ‘tried and tested’ tool by thousands of users over the internet. The plugin protects your site from SQL Injection Attacks, CSRF Attacks, XSS Attacks, Brute Force Attacks, and notifies you with the attacker’s full details.
It has been used by over 27000+ users and is their preferred Security Plugin. Other than just hiding the WordPress from Attackers, Spammers, and Bots. The plugin is capable of intercepting dangerous requests and banning the IPs and patterns detected by the Trust Network Engine.
You can also block requests made from certain countries by blocking their Country Codes and allowing only those you want to provide access to. It is simple to use and doesn’t demand any prerequisite. You can minify HTML and CSS with this plugin and block direct access to PHP files.
To sum it up, it handles the security of your website allowing you to focus on other important things where you will be notified whenever an intrusion attempt occurs and will get it fixed.
Also Read, How to Hide your WordPress theme from Theme Detectors?
Conclusion
Hope you got some insights into what goes behind in running a successful website and how you can prevent your website from the lethal online attacks. To make your WordPress more secure you can frequently change your passwords – use a random and complex password, update the WordPress and Plugins on time and make the use of a Dedicated Security Plugin to handle all the security issues.