Some people think that they don’t need to care much about the security of their WordPress website. Unfortunately, most people realize the importance of security only when their website or blog gets hacked. WordPress is on the list of most user-friendly and popular content management systems that you can find these days. At the same time, this platform is a common target for spammers and hackers.
According to a recent report, 9 out of 10 sites that get hacked are based on WordPress. However, it is important to keep in mind that WordPress is one of the most secure platforms. In the same way, if your website is properly maintained and secured, it won’t be easier for hackers to attack it.
Actually, most hackers don’t attack unpopular platforms. Therefore, they attack WordPress websites because 61% of websites of today are WordPress based.
Now, you may be wondering why your website is at risk despite the fact that it has very low traffic. Actually most hackers hack small, unpopular website not to delete important files or steal data. Their goal is to use your web server in order to send spam emails. Actually, after hacking your website, they will install a special software program that will send a lot of spam emails. And you won’t realise that someone is taking advantage of your server without your permission.
You don’t need to be scared. We are going to share with you a few important tips that will help you to secure your WordPress website.
1. Don’t Go for Premium Plugins that are offered for Free
If you are running your online business on a tight budget, you are looking for ways to save money. This is completely understandable. However, it is not a good idea to download your desired premium plugins from any website they are sold on. What you need to do is go to the official website of the plugin whenever you need to reinstall that plugin.
What happens is that free plugins contain malicious software such as Malware. Therefore, you may want to buy the plugin you need from the official website of the service provider.
2. Use .htaccess to Protect your Important Files
If you have been an experienced WordPress user, you may have accessed and used the .htacces file. Once you have changed this file, know that it will have a great impact on the security of your website.
If you have never worked with.htaccess, you need to know about it first. Basically, this file is responsible for the configuration of your web server. Besides, it contains specific rules that your web server follows in order to handle the files of your website.
Primarily, this file is used for creating user-friendly URLs for each web page. Aside from this, it is also used to make necessary security-related modifications to your website.
Given below are a few things that the file will allow you to do to your WordPress website as far as security is concerned:
- Block suspicious IP addresses
- Deactivate directory browsing
- Allow selected IP addresses to get access to wp-admin
- Block bad bots
3. Hide your Author Usernames
It is not a good idea to use WordPress defaults. The reason is that almost every WordPress user knows the default username that WordPress uses for each website. Often, the default author username of a WordPress website is administrator. Therefore, you have to change it. If you don’t change it, it will be easier for hackers to access your website and use its contents and other features.
If your website has more than one author and no one of them is the administrators, you are good to go. However, if you have a small website and you are the only administrator and Arthur, you may want to create a separate user for your post. Don’t forget to assign the author role to the user. This is important because you cannot allow that user you have all the rights to make necessary changes to your website. In other words, the user should have a limited access.
4. Hide your site Login Page
If your security strategy involves hiding login pages and files, it won’t be enough. After all, all these elements of your WordPress website are not going to prevent hackers from getting access to them. But it will at least make it more difficult for them to hack your website. Hiding your site longin page won’t require more than a few seconds if you opt for the right method, such as a plugin.
If you move or rename your WordPress login page, it will make it much harder for a hacker to get unauthorized access. Actually, most types of attacks are programmed. Therefore, if you have a different login page, they will have to invest in much more effort to attack your website.
You can choose from a lot of plugins that can make this job easier for you. For example, you can try out Hide My WP for this purpose.
5. Go with a Reliable Hosting Company
According to statistics, 4 out of 10 websites are hacked just because they were more vulnerable. This vulnerability is due to the hosting platform. Therefore, it is a great idea to choose a host that has a high-security level. Given below are a few features of a good hosting service:
- Malware scanning and detection of suspicious files
- Automatic theme updates
- Firewall protection
- Optimized for word WordPress
- Support for the most recent version of mySQL and PHP
These are just a few important things that can help you choose the right hosting company. Choosing the most popular and reliable provider is a great idea if you want to be on the safe side.
In short, if you are looking for tips to secure your WordPress website, we suggest that you follow the tips given in this article. It is not a good idea to ignore the security aspect of your website if you are serious about what you are doing. Remember the security of your website is of paramount importance.
