Introduction
WordPress security is considered to be very important for almost every website owner. There are about 10,000+ websites that are blacklisted by Google every day for malware and 50,000 of them for phishing attacks.
So, if you are concerned about your WordPress website, then you should pay attention to the best security practices. Also, there are certain considerations that you should keep in mind whenever it comes to WordPress website development.
Although the core software of WordPress is secure and it is audited regularly by several developers.
So, there are several things that you should do to keep your website secure and it is known to be an important aspect in WordPress application development.
Therefore, in this guide, you will get to know some of the best security instructions to follow for protecting your WordPress website against malware as well as hackers.
Why is Website Security Important?
A WordPress website that is hacked can result in severe harm to the reputation and revenue of your business. Hackers can again steal passwords, user info, can distribute malware to your users, and even install malicious software.
Ultimately, it results in paying ransomware to the hackers for regaining access to your website. So, security is a very important part of WordPress design and development.
Again if your website is a business, then it is even more important to pay further attention to the security of your website. They should act in a similar way in which they would have been acted in the case of a physical store.
While they are involved in WordPress website development, they should always focus on adopting a proactive security strategy for the overall protection of their website.
How to Secure WordPress Website From Hackers?
The rising popularity of WordPress has created more interest specifically among hackers. It is evident from the recent statistics, that there are about 80 million WordPress-powered websites, out of which 70% are more susceptible to attacks.
So, there is a certain security consideration that website developers should keep in their mind during WordPress application development.
You are wrong if you do not consider your website to be a part of the 70%. Again, you are wrong if you think that nobody cares about your blog or small business website. There is always the possibility of attacks as your website is vulnerable to the attacks.
A lot of adverse things can happen when hackers have hacked your website. Not only, it damages the reputation of your website, but you can significantly lose traffic, customers, confidential information, and money.
It will again take a huge amount of stress, time, and effort to clean your website and get it back to a normal state. By adopting the below-mentioned strategies, you would be able to save a lot of money, time, and frustration in the future.
Keep WordPress Updated
Being open-source software, WordPress updates most frequently. WordPress routinely installs some minor updates by default. But, you should again initiate the update manually for major releases.
This platform possesses several themes as well as plugins that you can consider installing. Again, the third-party developers regularly release those updates.
These updates are significant for the stability as well as security of your WordPress websites. All that you should ensure is that your WordPress plugins, core, along theme remain updated.
If you are finding any difficulty in this aspect, you can take the help of WordPress application development services.
Strong Passwords & User Permissions
Most of the hackers stole your WordPress website password to hack your website. So, it is very important to use difficult passwords.
This is applicable for the admin area of your WordPress account along with the WordPress hosting account, database, FTP accounts, and your custom email address that make use of the domain name of your website.
Again, many of the beginners do not make use of very strong passwords as they find it very difficult to remember. Therefore, in this regard, you can make use of a password manager, and with the help of which, you do not have to remember passwords anymore.
WordPress Hosting
If you want to increase the security of your WordPress website, then you should choose your WordPress hosting service very carefully.
Opting for an excellent shared hosting provider such as SiteGround or BlueHost consider taking extra measures for protecting their services against the most common threats.
Along with that, you can get the most secure platform for your WordPress website with the help of this. These managed WordPress hosting services also offer more advanced security configurations, automatic WordPress updates and automatic backups for protecting your website. Therefore, a proficient web hosting provider effectively works to protect your data as well as websites. Also, they possess tools that help in the prevention of large-scale DDOS attacks.
Add Two-Factor Authentication
The users should log in by making use of a two-step authentication process as a part of it. The first step requires you to enter both the username as well as password while the second one requires authentication by making use of a separate app or device.
Most of the renowned websites such as Facebook, Google, Twitter allows you to enable it for your accounts. You have the option to enable the same functionality to your WordPress website.
So, it can be the best way to secure your WordPress website from hackers. You need to focus on this aspect while opting for WordPress design and development.
Scan WordPress for Malware and Vulnerability
With the installation of the WordPress security plugin on your website, you can ensure security. These plugins will check for any specific security breach signs along with malware routinely.
But, in case you experience an unexpected drop in search rankings or traffic, then it is time for a manual scan. Scanning your website for vulnerabilities and malware is considered to be very important.
It effectively protects your website from hackers. All that you need is to run online scans by entering your website URL.
Also, you should know that the security scanners of WordPress can perfectly scan your website. But, they are unable to get rid of malware or recover a hacked website.
Update All Themes and Plugins
If you are not updating your plugins and themes, then it can cause trouble to your website. Regular updating of all plugins and themes is very important when it comes to WordPress security.
These updates are meant to fix bugs and also have important security patches. Many of the hackers take advantage of the people who are not concerned about updating their themes as well as plugins. Those hackers also exploit bugs that previously have been fixed.
So, if you are involved in using any WordPress product, then it is mandatory to update regularly. If you do not have time for this, you can also opt for a managed WordPress hosting plan while WordPress application development.
Enable a Website Firewall
The easier way to protect your WordPress website is by making use of a website firewall at the time of WordPress website development.
A website firewall works by effectively blocking all the malicious traffic before reaching your website. In this regard, the two most popular options are application-level firewall and DNS level website firewall.
Among these, the DNS level website firewall helps in the effective routing of the traffic coming to your website along with their cloud proxy servers. As a result, only genuine traffic reaches your web server.
On the other hand, an application-level firewall effectively examines the traffic at the time it reaches your specific server, but before the WordPress scripts load.
Backup Your Site
Regular backup is very important for ensuring security. If you have a backup, you can restore your WordPress website to a working state specifically whenever you want.
You can again find the availability of some plugins that can prove to be very helpful in this aspect. Along with some free plugins, you can also opt for some premium options that help to create a backup every week.
Not only that but these particular plugins check websites for malware. But, if you are finding any sorts of difficulties in securing your website, then you can take the help of the best WordPress design and development services.
Conclusion
So, if you are a beginner in WordPress website development, then you need to be extra cautious when it comes to security. You should be very careful about your WordPress website security which will ultimately prevent the break-in of hackers.
This is also considered to be very important to improve the overall performance of your website. Without a quick loading website, your visitors will not get the chance to consume your content.
Also, whenever it comes to security, prevention is better than cure. In this regard, you need to adopt certain measures for protecting your WordPress website from hackers.
Again, you should not underestimate the damage that hackers can cause to your business or website.
Hope, you have now understood the best practices for securing your WordPress website.
