WordPress is one of the best CMS platforms for users to build their websites on. It has an intuitive interface with easy-to-use features to help them develop the best-looking site or blog possible. This is one of the many reasons why WordPress has more than 75 million users worldwide.
Due to its popularity, WordPress is also prone to security threats, if not outright hacker attacks. WPWhiteSecurity.com found out that more than 70% of websites running on WordPress are vulnerable to attacks.
There’s a slim chance that your site or blog will be hacked anytime soon, unless it’s one of the most popular ones out there, in which case it has 33% chance of contracting malware. However, if you’re really serious about making a living with your site or blog, then you need to take these threats seriously as well.
Below are tips on how you can beef up your WordPress security to safeguard your site or blog from possible attacks.
Purchase secure hosting from the start
There’s a tendency for website owners to purchase shared hosting for their site or blog to cut on costs. You can’t argue with the logic behind this decision: since they’ll still building the website’s content and digital assets, it’s only smart to run on bare essentials until they are able to develop the site and drive sizable amount of traffic. Only then will they plan to transition to more secure hosting services like cloud or dedicated hosting once they’ve gained profit from their sites to offset the costs.
However, if you have cash to spare for WordPress security and protection, in addition to faster loading speed and better site performance, why not secure this service now for the sake of your site? Using a secure hosting service protects you from different types of online attacks such as DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) and others.
Strengthen your password
Of websites all over the world that run on WordPress, about 8% are hacked due to weak passwords according to this infographic at WPTemplate.com.
To make sure that hackers won’t break into your website using your login credentials, you need to make sure that your password is “strong.” This can be done by mixing small and upper case letters, symbols, and numbers as your password to make it difficult for hackers to crack your account. However, the best approach to coming up with a password that’s hard to crack is by making it as random as possible. Using a random generator that will create a string of characters that you can use for your password is one way of doing this.
Use security plugins
WordPress is known for its amazing host of plugins to help supercharge your site or blog, including plugins that help ensure its security and privacy from people without any login details. Below are some of the best plugins that help boost your site’s protection from attacks:
- Wordfence Security – this free enterprise plugins performs a deep-server side scan of your site or blog’s plugins, themes, and file for malware and infected files. By identifying the bad files in your site’s backend, you can quarantine or remove the files to minimize (if not eliminate) security risks. There are other security plugins that you may want to try out if you’re not comfortable with Wordfence.
- Login Security Solution – Strengthen your login page by downloading and activating this plugin. It lets you track down IP addresses of its visitors, logs out users accounts that have been compromised, and slows down response times for users who have incurred multiple login failures to discourage spammers and hackers from infiltrating your dashboard, to name a few of its features.
- UpdraftPlus Backup and Restoration – Create a backup of your backend files and save them online using your preferred cloud storage service (Dropbox, Google Drive, S3, etc.). You can schedule either a one-time or recurring backup so you can restore your website even if its goes down due to unfortunate circumstances.
Final thoughts: Make sure that your WordPress security is in tip-top shape by following the tips featured above. There are services not featured above that will increase your protection, but the ones listed in this posts should help you establish a solid protection for your WordPress site.
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