WordPress is one of the most popular website software across the globe attracting huge numbers of users every year with its simplicity, versatility, and variety of features. However, this also makes it the perfect target for malicious attacks. It is, therefore, a priority to ensure your security is top-notch and advanced enough to keep such attacks at bay.
- Enable auto-updates
It is easy for malicious attackers to gain access to the code as the majority of themes and plugins along with WordPress itself are open-source. This is a guaranteed way to identify and exploit vulnerabilities. They have programmed bots that scout the internet to find websites. They have these faults so they used them to attack. It results in developers being forced to get rid of these vulnerabilities on a daily basis by often updating their software.
One of the main aspects that can harm your WordPress website is if you fail to update as soon as the latest versions are available. The more you wait to update, the longer your vulnerabilities left unguarded. Which leads to being attacked, and at times losing your website.
- Install an SSL certificate
Secure Sockets Layer provides an added layer of security to your WordPress website by encrypting your database including all the data that sent back and forth between your web browser and your users.
It ensures that all of your interaction is completely protected and any sensitive information kept away from prying eyes. You need to install an SSL certificate on your WordPress website. You can get it free if you use a Content Management System.
However, for WordPress, you might need to do this manually or install an SSL plugin. This will have a positive impact on SEO rankings and boost your image in the eyes of visitors. That scouting your website for the first time. In fact, Google Chrome now has a way to notify users of the website they intend to visit not having an SSL certificate in place. This perceives as low security and will result in a lot of users not trusting your website enough to engage with it.
The presence of an SSL certificate easy found when the WordPress website has “https” in its URL along with a padlock icon next to it, which means the website is protected by the SSL protocol. If they’re just “http”, it means that website not secured by an SSL certificate.
- Employ two-factor authentication
Strong passwords are the primary line of security to keep brute force hackers at bay. However, if you want to boost your security, two-face authentication is the way to go. Along with username and password, it requires more numerical code to add.
Since this code sent directly to the mobile device of the visitor. The hacker will not be able to get a hold of it unless they have the user’s phone. So the hacker cannot log in even if they know the username and password. In case your credentials stolen by a hacker, your website remains safe from being accessed illegally.
- Enforce security scans
Security scans inspect your entire website with the use of specialized plugins/software to identify any irregularities or potential problems. In case they spot something, it dealt with without any delay. So they basically do the job of anti-viruses. For a straightforward and cost-effective solution, you can use a variety of plugins. Along with the backup features, they go through the entire system looking for threats and malware.
- Employ safe WordPress hosting
Security has to be one of the main aspects of web hosting that you need to ensure while selecting your managed WordPress hosting provider. You should pick one that has employed enough protective measures to keep your data safe and be able to replace it without any delay in case an attack takes place. You should conduct a thorough inquiry into the security of your choice of WordPress web hosting service.
- Get rid of deactivated plugins and themes
Once you upgrade to new plugins and themes, the ones that deactivate remain in the vicinity. These prove to cause vulnerabilities in your system to taken advantage of by hackers. You can get rid of these easily by uninstalling them entirely. Since they saved on your computer, it won’t take a lot of time to reinstall them in case you decide to use them again. You also get additional space that would otherwise have wasted.
- Create backups regularly
Backups are crucial for your website, not just to keep it safe and boost security. But also to keep things functioning smoothly. In case disaster strikes, natural or manmade, you end up losing your entire database, sometimes irrevocably, and forced to start over.
The only way to avoid this is to create backups as frequently as possible. As backups help restore your website to the last version backed up, regardless of what has happened since then, you can always restore your website with the recent backup and become functional again.
There are several options to back up your data. Some web hosting services provide backups too. However, before you select one, check how frequently the backups create and how easily they restore if some problem occurs and you end up losing your website.
Conclusion
There are several ways you can advance your WordPress security by simply employing the easy ways mentioned above. You can also make security changes that involve changing the code of your website; however, a tad complicated. The WordPress website owners with limited coding knowledge can stick to implementing the measures mentioned above that are straightforward. To put into use and extremely useful to boost the security of your website and avoid being a victim to any attacks. Your WordPress web hosting provider also plays a major role in ensuring the safety of your website. So make sure you choose the perfect web hosting service.
