Thousands of WordPress websites get hacked every day, so securing your blog must be top of mind. Luckily, it’s not all rocket-science as you need to make most of the tweaks only once.
Then just keep tabs open on the WordPress security news and install updates religiously.
Some hackers target the personal information of your subscribers to steal their identity. Other attacks hijack your blog to distribute spam or malware or hold it for ransom. Hackers can also use your blog in a large-scale DDoS attack.
But guess what – if your website becomes a part of a DDoS or spamming network, Google will punish you big time. Bloggers.
Also Read: How to Do Penetration testing with your website detailed Explanation
Important Consideration of WordPress Security
1. From setting up your installation to choosing security plug-ins, be thorough and vigilant. Follow the Security best practices (Guide) like always customizing the default settings.
2. For instance, never leave your login name as “admin.” Create a custom login instead, and you’d better make it complex.
3. The same rule applies to your password. So, I’ll explain how to create, use and store a secure password, and how to prevent hackers from resetting it.
4. I strongly recommend a WP Limit Login plug-in to limit the multiple sign-in attempts.
5. Two-factor authentication is another security practice that will get you a long way. I’ll show you how to set it up and what authentication methods are easy-to-use but secure.
6. Anti-spam protection is a must-have these days. So CAPTCHA and Akismet plugins are essential tools for any website owner.
7. Disabling the WordPress API and XML-RPC is a useful trick that covers a critical security hole in your blog. I strongly suggest that you do it unless you plan to integrate your own programs into WordPress.
8. You need to set up an internal security monitoring system with Sucuri, Wordfence or WordPress Security.
9. In the meantime, knowing how to choose the right hosting provider, and how to secure it is as vital as deploying an external monitoring system (i.e., CloudFlare) to protect your site against DDoS attacks.
10. You’ll also want to set up an SSL certificate and get your data and traffic encrypted. Also, disable PHP error reporting, and update your file permissions to prevent unauthorized users from tampering with them.
11. Proper user permissions management and logging out idle users will save you the headache of troubleshooting your site if one of your contributors wrecks havoc by mistake.
12. You need to be aware of the security threats coming from third-party plugins, themes, and advertising networks. So, find and disable them.
13. Never leave outdated plugins running and keep your website clean from old themes, plug-ins, and content.
14. Secure your end-point devices, IoT, and connections to get your blog bulletproof against physical intrusion. Forge a reliable disaster preparedness plan and do the timely backups of your websites.
15. You can refer to walkthrough published by Alex Grant for WordPress security consideration setup.
These common-sense instructions will help you beef up your blog security and automate most of the security-related tasks. As with everything in life, prevention is cheaper and better than treatment.
So, by investing your time in security you’re making it easier for yourself, as dealing with a website breach is a lot worse than preventing it.
