Top 10 Tricks to Avoid Most Common WordPress Security Breaches

WordPress is one of the most popular CMS equipped with loads of theme options and valuable plugins. Its security is not just about updating plugins and themes or getting a backup of the website. Make sure if your site hasn’t been hacked, that doesn’t mean it is secure and will never be hacked. Probably it was of no use to the hackers. Hacker’s eyes for websites that generate good revenue have a high traffic volume and valuable data.

WordPress security is invaluable and is an ongoing process. It is always best to avoid offering any brilliant hacker a loose point or else it can go into the hands of others.

The best way to make your WordPress site foolproof and secure is to strengthen its security barriers. Technically, there is no 100% secure website, and practically you do not need such a website as well!

This piece of information is a good source to get an idea of how to make your WordPress website secure that cannot be compromised. Here are the top 10 tips to fix the most common WordPress Security issues to protect your site from being hacked or possible damages!

1. Strong Password

The most common way to secure your WordPress site is to have a strong password with a minimum of 10 characters. This password should have a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and digits with special characters.

Your passwords should be difficult to crack and keep changing it periodically. Better to keep different passwords for multiple websites. You may also use a tool like “Strong password generator” to create passwords that are tough to guess.

2. Two-phase authentication

This is yet another great way to secure your website from brute-force attacks. You should implement two-factor authentication, which will offer you an extra layer of security during login.

In addition to a username and password, you also have to provide a one-time passcode which you receive through SMS to your phone to log in to your website. There are various plugins, e.g. Duo Two-factor authentication, Google Authenticator, etc. are available to facilitate this feature effectively.

3. Restrict login attempts

Usually, hackers apply tactics like trying to log in to the website multiple times to guess the credential until they crack the password. To thwart these attempts, you can limit the number of times a person can attempt to log in a particular time slot. This mechanism will save your website from attacks.

For this also there are multiple plugins to help you implement the restriction of the number of login attempts. The IP addresses of users have been blocked in case the threshold limit of failed login attempts is crossed in such plugins.

4. Scheduled Backups

For better security of your website, you must have a crisis management strategy in place by having a scheduled backup plan. If you happen to witness something terribly wrong, you can rely on the backup to restore to the version prior to the damage and keep going from there on. Vault press and Backup Buddy are some of the plugins that can help in taking regular backups and also offer restore options.

5. Change the admin username

Never keep “admin” as the username as it is the most popular and common name which anyone can assume easily. This is the first choice of hackers as usernames and they may break into the website. In case you have this username, change it right off the bat and create a new user giving him administrative authority.

Better to assign your posts to the new admin user and delete the old admin account from WordPress. Or else, you may also change the admin username using a plugin.

6. Get a good hosting provider

All these security concerns and tips may not work if you do not have a reliable and strong hosting provider and the security of your host itself is vulnerable to attacks. So, it is wise to select the best hosting provider that is well aware of WordPress and includes WP firewall, Malware scanning, MySQL, up-to-date PHP, etc. to ensure secure hosting.

7. Keep the WordPress environment updated

WordPress has always released an updated version whenever a security issue arises to counter the security flaw. This is, therefore, of the essence to upgrade your WordPress installation as and when a new version is released. Do not save money or effort to run an updated version of WordPress as the older version may be vulnerable.

Hackers are the first to get information regarding the security flaws of the older version, hence they can easily attack your website if you haven’t updated it. Use automatic updates and maintain your website religiously. You may also hire a reputed WordPress Development Company in India to maintain your website.

8. Delete plugins you do not use

Do you know inactive plugins on a WordPress website are vulnerable to attacks? We usually have a tendency to ignore the updates on those plugins. Better to delete it altogether if you are not going to use it to cut down the vulnerability. Keep in mind that just deactivating the redundant plugins isn’t enough. Delete it to make sure you do not have a trace of it and snap off all possibilities for the hackers to get any loose points.

9. Update Themes and Plugins

Themes and plugins are like ventilators or gateways to your personal information. You must keep them secure by keeping them up to date as you do with the WordPress environment. Identify the themes and plugins that require updating in the admin dashboard. Now run automatic updates so that everything stays updated.

10. Keep an eye on WordPress files

Security plugins like WordFence can help you monitor changes done to the WP files. The prevention features, security scanning, and intrusion detection features of these plugins can help you keep your WordPress files secure.

Synopsis

These are some of the most popular and easily used security checks that can keep your WordPress website safe and secure away from any WordPress security issues. Protecting the WordPress environment is not a one-time process, but a continuous process. You need to be aware of the new threats and their solutions and updated tricks and tools to deal with them. It is always suggested to hire a well-established WordPress Developer/company to get these WordPress development services to keep your website pink in healthy.