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Do you use WordPress? We do, as do many other website owners around the world. Precisely because it is such a popular platform, hackers have always looked for ways to compromise the security of this platform.
Every day, sites created on the WordPress platform are subjected to cyber attacks, often without the knowledge of their administrator.
You’ve probably noticed on your WordPress website or blog that you’ve received comments and spam emails so far. These are the most common types of attacks. Your site is also often subject to attempts to complete all forms (including registration, found at name.com/wp-admin).
To prevent such cyber attacks and keep your site safe, we’ve put together a series of tips that I hope will help you.
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Site security tips
1. Choose quality hosting
If you want to secure a website, you need to make sure that your WordPress hosting company meets all the necessary technical requirements from the beginning.
The servers used by the company must be very well protected. It is recommended that you use antivirus / antimalware software that frequently scans your hosted files.
Before choosing hosting, make sure that your website will be kept safe and that you will have an uptime (while the site is active online) of 99.9%.
2. Purchase an SSL certificate
SSL certificates are recommended for any website, even if it is a blog that does not process personal data.
It is intended to encrypt the communication between the server and the user’s browser, which makes it difficult for any hacker to compromise or steal the data transmitted to your site.
For any company website, purchasing this certificate has become an important recommendation both for SEO and to increase user confidence.
That’s why I wrote a more detailed article on what an SSL certificate is and how to install it.
3. Replaces the comments section
Each time a new article is published, you may receive spam comments.
They should NEVER be approved, as they contain links that could compromise your site and create hackers’ gateways.
The standard comments section on any WordPress theme is vulnerable. Therefore, a solution to get rid of this worry permanently would be to replace the WordPress comments section with Facebook or Disqus comments, a useful tool for comments that can be easily installed with a plugin.
It will ask anyone who wants to comment to register with your Gmail, Facebook or other account set up by you, so that hackers or algorithms created by them can’t leave spam comments.
4. Use strong passwords
You’ve probably seen that when you set a password for an email address, it requires you to use at least one numeric and a special character. It also requires at least 6 or 8 characters in total.
So, the time when passwords were “1234” is over.
Now, most likely you will need a secret document, just yours, where you can write down your passwords from all the accounts, because no simple password that can be remembered is more secure.
Therefore, you can use password generators or simply enter a strong password yourself, such as: SerWho $ 12 # $% () !! or ”! @ # + ($ Dkspwp892sS @ # $.
These types of passwords cannot be (at least not by today’s means) hacked by hackers.
5. Do not use obvious usernames
Just as the password can be broken, so can the username.
When you install the WordPress platform and use it for the first time, the standard user you receive is called “admin“.
This is the most intuitive username and should only be used to create another special administrator name, and then delete the “admin” one.
Keeping that username on your site can jeopardize your site’s security.
It is also recommended that you do not use a username that is similar to the site name, for example: cheaphostingreview, for the website. That can be easy to guess, and then only the password remains your only protection wall between your files and hackers in the online world.
6. Install site security plugins
You don’t need too many security modules for your site, but here are two that might be enough to help you:
iThemes: a plugin that aims to block spam attacks both in the comments section and through the contact and access forms on your site;
Wordfence Security: This has multiple security features, including scanning your site for malicious code and removing it from your files.
7. Performs frequent backups
Normally, the hosting company that hosts your site also makes weekly backups of your site.
However, because you can never be too sure, we recommend that you perform your own backups. The healthiest way to do this is manually, with the help of a programmer, if you work with one.
Otherwise, you have the option of using plugins, such as UpdraftPlus, recommended for any kind of website, from small to large.
8. Performs timely updates
If you’ve been using WordPress for a while, you’ve probably noticed that it’s made up of several components, made by different programmers: the core platform, plugins (modules or extensions), and themes.
Each of them requires updates at some point. If you use more than one plugin, you will definitely need updates more often.
Most updates are meant to fix security breaches and protect your site, so you shouldn’t hesitate before you update or not.
The only time when you may want to consult with a programmer or create a back-up is before updating components such as the core platform or theme.
9. Don’t install too many plugins
Over time, most of the intrusions and burglaries of some WordPress sites have been done through plugins that had security breaches.
For example, even popular plugins like Revolution Slider or Visual Composer have “opened the door” to many hackers who have managed to corrupt a large number of websites over the years.
Therefore, my recommendation is to use plugins only if absolutely necessary. If you want to experiment with a plugin and then decide that you do not want to keep it, uninstall it and do not keep it in the list of active plugins. Even if not used, a plugin can jeopardize the security of your site.
We talked more about recommended plugins in the article: WordPress plugins that you need to use.
Conclusion
I hope all my tips help you keep your WordPress site safe. All these tips can be implemented without the help of a programmer. You just have to have basic WordPress skills and know where to look for tips, in case you get stuck in one of the steps.
I am convinced that there are other site security tips that I have not listed here. That’s why I want to ask you: what other security methods do you use for your WordPress site?
I look forward to discussing this topic further.
