10 Simple Ways to Keep Your WordPress Website Secure

31st Oct 2013 | Posted by Eko S. | 5 Comments

WordPress is a dynamic open source content management system (CMS), developed on PHP and supported by MySQL database. It has become popular due to its simple user management system and versatile approach. The websites developed on this platform come with various in-built security features. However, depending completely on the default features might help the hackers to intercept the confidential data easily. Therefore, the website owners or web developers need to manually configure plugins and implement security settings to keep the websites secure from hackers.

WordPress Security Tips

Here are the 10 simple ways that can keep your site secure from all invalid data interceptions.

#1. Scan your workstations

Hackers enter into your domain using malware applications and users’ login credentials. It is always recommended to change the login credentials such as the users and admin level passwords frequently. In addition, configure the system firewall settings that can block the viruses and malware applications from intruding into the PCs and web servers. Furthermore, configure the firewalls at OS level, router and ISP level.

#2. Update site with newer versions

Once the WordPress website design is complete, install the newer versions that come with latest patches. Therefore, always install the latest versions of the WordPress on the site. The latest versions are not easy to hack and come with more robust security features. The administrators can configure the site to get the latest releases or updates automatically.

#3. Report issues to wordpress.org

WordPress has a user-friendly platform. If you discover any bugs or vulnerabilities, then report to security@wordpress.org or plugins@wordpress.org. Send an email to the addresses (mentioned above) concerning to any security issues observed on the WordPress site. To provide users a better experience, the issues are considered seriously, and new solutions are constantly invented.

#4. Regular checks

‘Exploit scanner plugin’ is one of the effective tools that indicate any malicious activity happening on the sites. It is also highly competent in discovering the activities that can harm the sites. A WordPress developer must always use this tool regularly for checking the bugs on the sites.

#5. Disable custom HTML

The custom WordPress designer always prefers custom HTML to develop formsand build other functionalities on a site. Therefore, it is not possible always to disable the forms and functionalities on the site; however, it is a better idea to disable custom HTML whenever it is possible. Web administrators just need to add wp-congif.php file to disallow or unfiltered custom HTML requirements for the site.

#6. Pretend old

Hackers, often choose the websites that are new on the internet. It is assumed that they easily crack the websites, which are just a few days old. Hence, remove the comments and posts that are default on the new site, and always hide the version details on the site. Also, it is suggested to remove the footers that states ‘Powered by WordPress’.

#7. Hide indexes

It is always advisable to hide the indexing file from being viewed / accessed in public. Hackers look for the indexing files on the sites by using different malware applications and plugins. Web administrators using Apache or another operating system on the servers can configure .htaccess file in the site’s main directory. Disable the public access and upload the file into the main directory that can help in protecting the index details from hacking.

#8. Regular backup

Regular backup of the entire site and content helps you to restore the site easily. This open source has WP-DB Manager loaded with efficient features that not only backup the whole WordPress site, but also alert the administrators about MySQL vulnerabilities and report about the databases that have been publicly accessed.

#9. Install security plugins

There are hundreds of security plugins available on the web that can check for the bugs, vulnerabilities and hacking attempts. Use of ‘Exploit scanner plugin’ and other prominent security plugins are strongly recommended. Furthermore, the plugins come with a lot of suggestions to help customize your WordPress website efficiently.

#10. Use of admin panel plugins

Limit Login Attempts plugin
Set the maximum login attempts; logout duration, and lockouts between sessions.
User Locker plugin
This plugin helps you to set and check the number of invalid attempts made to an account before it got locked out.
Admin SSL Secure plugin
It encrypts the entire admin panels on the site.
Block Bad Queries plugin
It blocks the malicious queries and looks for the suspicious long strings.
Antivirus plugin
This plugin helps to protect the site from viruses, worms, and other forms of malware applications.

Conclusion

These are the ten simple ways that help your site to stay secure from invalid data interceptions on the web.

- Written by Mr. Deepak Gupta -

He is a professionally trained writer and is known for his exclusive work in the field of WordPress website customization. He is famous for his qualitative work that is shown through his articles which describes how to customize WordPress websites effectively.

4 Comments to “10 Simple Ways to Keep Your WordPress Website Secure”

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ConnieM says:

October 31, 2013 at 02:15

It would be good to show how to hide indexes etc, in .htaccess

especially inexperienced users do not know about these things and need help
so to list all possibilities without explaining howto… is not really helpful

why not start a serie of articles or link to already published articles / tutorials?

Cheers and keep up the good work!

Connie

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bethany Crouch says:

October 31, 2013 at 04:55

Hi, I always face difficulty is updating to word press to newer version, Exploit scanner plugin is not great plug-in for handling malicious activities. My site was hacked many times. Hacking often happens with lot of site for me web-hosting companies servers play a important role in it.. Thanks for sharing such useful info.

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LJ says:

November 1, 2013 at 03:05

Thanks for this information, most of this I’m already doing, but it’s good to know I’m on the right track. Thanks also for the tip about removing ‘powered by WordPress’, I’ve noticed that on a lot of sites.

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Antanus says:

November 27, 2013 at 01:59

good information, very helpful to me who is still in the learning phase

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