WordPress is the most popular website builder tool used by website creators. Owning a WordPress blog or website can seem like it’s your life's investment at times, and you need to protect it from hacking and other types of invasion. Although WordPress is a secured platform in itself, you can still enhance security by taking some crucial steps. There are tons of ways to keep your WordPress website secure. Most of them can take place simultaneously, are quite easy to execute, and you don't need to pay for them. Why do you need to secure your site? To protect your posts, and preserve your information and identity from your visitors and customers.
Below Are Some Easy Steps To Secure Your WordPress Blog Or Website
1. Work with a trusted and reliable firm
By hiring a reliable developer and web designer, you will have better protection for your site. A professional and skilled designer will help maintain the confidentiality of your website, as well as crucial information stored inside it. During the web design process, they will take time to set up additional security measures to make the site more secure.
2. Use a strong password
This is a common mistake many people make. The need to use a strong password for your WordPress site can never be overemphasized, because this is the number one avenue invaders use to access your information. Avoid using passwords that are easy to remember and easy to type in: 012345 is not a great password, as it's just too simple to guess. Many internet users have fallen victim to this, and many are still falling as we speak. If you are using a simple password, make it stronger immediately. Use a mix of lowercase and uppercase letters, with special characters and numbers.
3. Remove the "Admin" Username
This is another subtle way hackers get vital information from your blog. They know the majority of WordPress sites still make use of the default admin username, and it's a great opportunity for them to gain entry - especially since half the info needed to get inside is already in their possession. You need to delete the default username, and create a new profile for your account.
4. Keep up with updates
Most people think WordPress updates are meant for just Google News search outcomes. It is more than that. They are released to introduce new features, fix bugs, and most importantly, close any security loopholes.
Will WordPress - or any other software program - always be a step ahead of these hackers? Of course not. For the most part, hackers are going to be a step ahead of the software. Unfortunately, that's how it goes; it is the world in which we find ourselves.
But when the main security loopholes are known and there are patches available, there is no excuse not to apply them. It is also not difficult to be informed about WordPress updates. This also applies to themes and plugins.
You may feel nervous when it comes to updating WordPress, in case it disrupts your theme or alters a plugin's functionality. If this happens, you need to re-examine your plugin and theme strategy. Your theme will surely get distorted when an invader introduces a page of awful encrypted code into it.
Using vetting plugins is crucial. If you don't update the plugin regularly, or you are not paying for support, there is a high chance of it breaking when WordPress updates.
5. Protect against brute force cracking
According to a website hosting company, they see between 50,000 and 180,000 failed login attempts on a daily basis. We get tons of failed login attempts on our site every hour.
These figures may be surprising, but before you start wondering why this happens, know that you have no power against these faceless, nameless hack attempts. You can only make sure they are unsuccessful.
First, you need a solid web host to shield you from brute force cracking. These hosts can monitor where the failed login attempts are emanating from, and then block the offending IP addresses.
Second, there are programs you can install such as Limit Login Attempts that will make it harder for brute force cracking to be effective.
6. Disable Pingbacks and Trackbacks
If you are not making use of pingbacks and trackbacks on your WordPress website, disable them. You can do this by using a plugin, or you can go to Settings - Discussion and uncheck the boxes next to Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article, and Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks) on new articles.
Making these changes will not stop trackbacks and pingbacks from being turned on for individual pages and posts. So the best option is to use a plugin to completely lock them down.
There are two convincing reasons why you need to consider disabling pingback and trackback: they give rise to spamming comments, and they can be used for brute force attack and coordinated DDoS. If you do make use of them, try to look for a way to shield your website against brute force attacks and trackback spam. However, most users prefer just disabling them completely.
7. Use two-factor authentication
Another good way of securing your WordPress site is by introducing the two-factor authentication at the login page. In this case, users need to provide login details for two different components. The owner of the website decides what the two components will be. It can be a normal password accompanied by a secret question, a set of characters, a secret code, etc.
Most people prefer the secret code method while introducing two-factor authentication to their websites. The Google Authentication plugin helps to achieve this in just a few seconds.
8. Deploy email ID as login
Using your username to login is the default setting for WordPress sites. It is more secure to use email ID instead of a username. The reasons are clear. Hackers can easily predict usernames, while emails are less easy to guess. Also, WordPress user accounts always come with a unique email ID, making it an authentic identifier for logging in.
To achieve this, make use of the WP Email Login plugin. After activation, it works immediately without requiring any configuration.
9. Remove your WordPress version number
It is very easy to find your current WordPress version number. It is lying right there in your website's source view. This is how it works; if the hackers or invaders know the version of WordPress you are using, it is easier for them to launch the perfect attack. There are many plugins you can use to hide your WordPress version number.
Conclusion
Following the steps listed above is the right way to go about securing your WordPress site. You invested so much time, money and effort to get your site running, it will be demoralizing to see it disrupted by hackers. Put the right things in place and make life miserable for anyone trying to invade!
If you have any useful information on how to secure your WordPress site, feel free to share it below so other readers can learn from it.