Tips to Curb WordPress Website Development Security Challenges

WordPress is a blog and Web publishing platform that’s super-easy to use and is recognized all over the world for creating stunning websites. It is an open source platform that converts small blogs to a commercial site. WordPress is more advanced than the typical website builder, but doesn’t mean it’s only for experts. Even a beginner can create a professional website!

However, the main concern of everyone, including professionals is the security of WordPress. The truth is, an open source script-like that of WordPress—is vulnerable. But, if you take enough care of your site, and enough responsibilities to protect your site, you can easily secure your WordPress Website.

Here are a couple of tips for everyone to secure their WordPress site.

Securing Login page

Standard WordPress website will always have a login page URL. The backend team has access to it, You can access it by adding be /wp-admin.php or /wp-admin/ at the end of the domain name. Read the below ways to secure your site–

1) Setup with lockdown and ban users:

Lockdown is the best features to stop the hacking. As the name suggests, the lockdown feature will block the login attempts after a certain number of failed attempts. Plus, you get notified of the unauthorized activity immediately.

You can make use of iThemes Security Plugin, which will help you lock down the attempts after a couple of failed login attempts. Besides, this plugin bans the attacker’s IP address.

2) Use Email To Login:

Instead of using a specific username to login, use an email ID for better security of your site. Undoubtedly, usernames are easy to predict while emails IDs are not. Email IDs are not something that can be guessed easily.

3) Replace your Login URL:

If the hackers already know the website URL they will try to pass it with multiple guesses. For example, Username: administration and Password:p@ssword. There are so many amalgamations available. At this point, you must rename the login URL. It will save you from the unsanctioned concern.

Secure The Admin Dashboard

Admin dashboard is the most engaging part of a website for a hacker that requires maximum protection. If a hacker accomplishes the task of getting into your admin dashboard, a lot of damage can be done to the website. Here’s what you can do.

1) Secure wp-admin Directory:

This directory is paramount for every WordPress user, which if get preached, the entire site can get damaged. To protect the wp-admin directory, one way is by password-protecting. With such security measures, the owner of the website will have to log in to the dashboard by submitting two passwords. One protects the WordPress admin area and the other login page.

2) Implement An SSL certificate:

Secure Socket Layer(SSL) ensures the data transfer between the server and user’s browser is secured, making it next to impossible for hackers to spoof your info or breach the connection. Add an SSL certificate on your website. You can either purchase it from Cheap SSL Certificate Providers or from your hosting service provider.

3) Replace The Default Username:

Do not keep on using the same WordPress username you get during the installation. Change it to something that isn’t guessable. Though it is a basic security practice, there are many websites that still use ‘admin’ as their username. It makes extremely easy for hackers to get into a website as they only have to guess the password. So, consider replacing the default username to something secure and difficult-to-guess.

Secure The Database

Your database contains your website’s data and information. Protecting it is more crucial than anything else. Follow these steps to secure it—

1) Change Table Prefix To Something Unique:

If you have ever set up a WordPress website, you might know the wp-table prefix used by the database of WordPress. If you continue using the same prefix, your website’s database gets prone to SQL injection attacks. Prevent such attacks by changing the table prefix to something unique.

2) Consider Taking Regular Backups:

No matter how secure a site is, there are always chances that it can be attacked. Even NASA’s websites are attacked more than often. But, keeping an off-site backup of your data is a way to ensure your website’s data is safe no matter what happens. If you have a backup, you can restore your data, and get your WordPress site up and run again.

3) A Strong Password For Database:

Coming back to basics, a strong password to login to your database can protect from most of the attacks. As always, use numbers, uppercase, special characters and lowercase of the password.

Protecting Hosting Set-Up

All hosting providers claim to provide best services to their users, but there is always some room left for improvement. Here’s what you need to do to go a step further-

1) Protect The Core Of Your Site:

The wp-config.php file is the heart of any WordPress site, which holds important information of your WordPress installation. If you have secured this file with utmost protection, hackers will find it extremely difficult to breach the security of your site. All you have to do is take your wp-config.php file to a higher level than your root directory.

2) Don’t Allow File Editing:

If you have allowed file editing to any of the users who have access to your WordPress dashboard, they can make changes to the files including plugins and themes. But, if you block access of these users to edit files, a hacker wouldn’t be able to make any changes even after getting access to your dashboard.

3) Connect Servers Via Secure Connections:

Use only SFTP or SSH to connect your server while setting up the website as they are more secure and better than traditional FTP. By doing this, you can ensure secure transfer of all the files.

Secure Plugins And Themes

Themes and Plugins are an important part of any WordPress site, but they are also prone to security attacks. In order to secure your WordPress website plugins and themes, you can update them regularly. Because many people forget to update their websites, hackers exploit the bugs that aren’t updated. It is why updating your themes and plugins timely can protect your complete website.

Final Words

These steps are easy to implement for a beginner and a professional. All you need is some time and efforts to take these security measures to curb the threats to their WordPress website. The more you care about the security of your site, the harder it will become for hackers to break in. Feel free to comment your ideas on securing your WordPress site!

Author Bio:

Brandon Graves is a prolific WordPress expert working with a leading website development company. He has a great specialization in converting website to WordPress, solving WordPress security issues, Plugins development etc. You can follow him on Facebook to get instant updates.