Cyber insecurity is an increasing factor in the technological world these days. Every good website needs security. If your website is not secured, there are hackers out there who will not only steal your data from the website but also try to destroy your website.
Electronic hackers are fast and invisible and will take all the details of your customer from your website along with their bank details. Once done, the damage done by the hacker can never be recovered. This article will cover ways to keep yourself and your data safe.
Don’t Use Default Credentials
Your password is your first defense against attacks. Hackers know you’ll try to use something familiar and have a better chance guessing it. Make sure you’re not using the default password and instead choose something complicated to decipher.
Two-Factor Authentication
Using two-factor authentication secures your WordPress website. It is a way to provide login credentials to any service. The user has the ability to provide login details for two different components, and you can even choose whether or not to provide a secret question or a secret code following the password.
This practice is adopted by many huge companies like Apple iCloud, Google, Dropbox, and many others. So when are you adopting this?
Secure Website Using SSL
With the help of a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate, you can smartly secure the admin panel of your website. It ensures the secured data transfer amongst browser and server. It makes difficult for hackers to reach to the information of your website. It’s incredibly easy to get an SSL certificate. Let’s Encrypt offers free certificates to any website.
Optimize Login URL
A login URL of a WordPress website will be accessed via wp-login.php or wp-admin at the end of the website’s URL. When hackers know your direct URL, they will forcefully try their way in with the default username and password. At this time, if your URL is optimized by you according to the name, then it will be hard for them to find out your login page. For an instance, you can use my_registeration instead of wp_admin. iThemes Security plugin would help you change your login URL.
Use Secure Hosting Server
A good hosting company will not only make security a huge priority, it will also provide a backup in case anything does happen. But you should know that hacking the website with the help of server is a no big deal for the hackers. And once, if the hacker has got into your website via the host, it can easily break all the security measures of your website. Make sure you choose a host wisely.
Ban Users & Setup Lock Down
Setting up a lock down feature for failed login attempts will protect you from continuous brute force attempts. After too many tries to login, the site will lock down. This will also inform the owner about the unauthorized login attempt and hacking can be prevented.
Keep Track of Dashboard Activity
It’s very easy to track the activity on your dashboard. If you have a lot of contributors this should be a crucial part of your process. You’ll be able to connect dots between a specific action to the reaction. Hence, by doing this, if an uploaded file caused breakage to your site, you can easily find out if it contained any kind of malicious code.
Keep Your WordPress Database Secure and Isolated
Only your database knows everything that happens on your website. It is the absolute place to find the information, but this makes it easier for a hacker to hack the entire website. Automated codes can be run to hack WordPress databases easily.
So for better security, it is always a good practice to run a single website on a single database. You can also rename your database often to distract the hacker.
Protect the wp-config and wp-admin Directory
The wp_config file has the most important information regarding your WordPress installation and it is the important even for your site’s root directory. So protecting this directory will indirectly protect the core of your WordPress website or blog.
Wp_admin is basically the most important thing on your WordPress website. Hence, if this is hacked, the entire site can be damaged. So it is compulsory to protect this part in order to prevent damage to your WordPress website or blog.
Backup Often
Backing up your site periodically is one of the most important steps. Before you make any change to your database, make sure that you have the backup of the entire recent database. This can also be done manually or with a plugin. A backup is the best defense of your website. Even if you are hacked, you can remove the entire data and restart all your security, change all your access passwords and re-upload your website within a day itself. Take the backup of your website regularly as this will only help you when your website gets hacked.
Correct File Permissions Required for Better Security
For better security for your WordPress website, you must use files with perfect file permissions. Wrong directory permissions can lead to huge damage to your website if the website is working on a shared host. So changing files and directory permissions can secure your website at the hosting level. If you set the directory permissions to “755” and file permissions to “644”, the entire file system can be protected. This can be done manually via File Manager of your hosting control panel or can be done using a terminal by using the “chmod” command.
Download Themes & Plugins from Trusted Sources Only
Themes and Plugins are a must on the WordPress website. And there are innumerable themes and plugins available out there, so selecting the best for your website is totally your responsibility. You should always download from a trusted source. As for a single function, you may find various similar plugins as well as themes. Download them from WordPress.org as the themes and plugins available here are scanned thoroughly before being admissible to the respective directories.
For premium plugins or themes, you can rely on sources like ThemeForest or any highly respected developer’s website.
Use Plugins like iThemes Security & Theme Authenticity Checker
These are the security plugins majorly working with WordPress. Theme Authenticity Checker is mainly used to check the authenticity of the theme you are using. It is an excellent plugin for scanning theme files of your website and finds out the malicious codes. It will go through the entire code and will remove the unwanted code.
Remove WordPress Version Number
If the hacker knows your current WordPress version number, it can be easier for them to hack the website. And the version number is always available in the source view of your website. So before your website is live, make sure that you have removed the version number of your WordPress website. Your WP version number should not be found anywhere on the website.
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Secure your WP website before it gets hacked and you lose your entire data as well as the reputation. These tips will keep you safe.
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