How to secure a WordPress site Overview

WordPress is one of the most accessible platforms for hackers.

WordPress’s growing popularity has piqued the interest of hackers. Hackers typically target the theme or core WordPress files, but they can also compromise the login page.

Website owners frequently express their dissatisfaction with WordPress security.

The basic idea is that the open-source script is vulnerable to all types of attacks.

You may have heard about the built-in WordPress security, which is sometimes far more secure than the competition.

According to the survey, 70% of all websites are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

If you believe your website is not among the top 70%, you may be mistaken. I

f you think that no one cares about your small business website or blog, you are mistaken once more.

The vulnerability is the root cause of the attack, not a hacker deciding to break into your business.

Apart from the company’s reputation, hacking can lead to a variety of adverse outcomes.

It can cost you customers, confidential information, and the stress of cleaning up the mess. “Prevention is better than cure,” as the saying goes.

You must have wondered at some point whether it would be better to take precautions rather than try to repair the damage.

Nowadays, your business and income are entirely dependent on the internet and your website.

People frequently believe that this will never happen to their website, but they are commonly mistaken.

If you have a WordPress website that is not secure, you must take action. Don’t keep avoiding it, and make this your top priority. Let’s take a look at how hackers target WordPress:

Hackers constantly target all websites, whether they are PHP-based or WordPress-based. No hacker can repeatedly attempt a single login. Several hackers are continually attacking the websites at the same time. It is not always a hacker trying to bug you; they may even use automated software to crawl the web, searching for any specific weakness in the website. Bots are the name given to all of these automated software programs.

Here are some methods for protecting your WordPress website from hackers.

1. Use Strong Passwords at All Times
   One of the essential things to double-check is the WordPress passwords, particularly the administrator password. Never use a password that is only numeric or alphabetical. You can make a strong password with letters, numbers, and symbols. You can change the password for all users by selecting EDIT and scrolling down to the password field from the list of users.
2. You must modify the default administrator user names.
   The first thing hackers will do is look for usernames with admin, host, and administrator names. It would help if you changed them to something difficult to identify. It would be best to try not to choose something obvious but to make them more challenging to locate.

It should be ensured that the website’s administrator is always one, but you can always add contributors to the list and remove any undesirable candidates.

3. You Should Use a Firewall to Protect Your WordPress Installation
   A firewall is a piece of software that detects and prevents intruders. Wordfence is one of the most effective WordPress firewalls. The primary function of Wordfence is to compare the behaviour of an abusive bot to the behaviour of the visitor. Suppose the bot performs specific functions and violates certain rules, such as requesting a considerable number of web pages in a short period. Wordfence will automatically block the bots in this case. Wordfence also programs legitimate bots such as Google and Bing.
4. Your WordPress Website Protects Against Exploits
   Many themes and plug-ins are protected before they are installed. When Wordfence researchers become aware of an exploit, the premium version of the firewall is updated, allowing users to subscribe to exploit protection weeks before the plug-in developer fixes the exploit.
5. You Must Secure the wp-config.php File
   The most critical information about your WordPress installation, as well as an important file in the website’s root directory, is found in wp-config.php. Because this File is inaccessible to hackers, this essential tactic allows them to breach the security of your website. The protection process is also quite simple; take the wp-config.php File and place it in a directory higher than the root directory.
6. You should not allow the files to be edited.
   Users with admin access to your WordPress dashboard can even change which files are included in your WordPress installation. The plug-ins and themes are all included. If you disable file editing, no one will make changes to any of the files. All you have to do is add the following command:

‘DISALLOW FILE EDIT, true;.’

7. Take Your Time When Choosing Directory Permissions
   When working in a shared hosting environment, incorrect directory permissions can be fatal. In such cases, changing the file and directory permissions at the hosting website is a simple way to secure the website. You must set the directory permissions to “755” and the file permissions to “644” to protect the entire system. This can be accomplished both manually and through the use of a file manager. The “chmod” command can be used to achieve this.
8. You Must Understand and Protect Yourself Against DDoS Attacks
   DDoS attacks are the most common type of attacks on your server’s bandwidth, in which the attacker uses multiple programs to overload your server. If these types of attacks are not resolved quickly, they can even cause your website to go down for an extended period. They are typically carried out by cyber-terrorists, who are specialized hackers.
9. You Should Make Regular Backups of Your WordPress Website to Protect It
   Even a nearly perfect website can be improved. You can restore your WordPress website to any working state at any time if you have a backup. You can use plug-ins such as VaultPress by automatic, which creates backups every week. Even in the worst-case scenario, your backup is only a mouse click away. It even scans for malware and alerts you if it detects anything suspicious.

If you are a beginner, you must be terrified to see all of these things at once. However, if these guidelines are followed, we will be on the right track.

The more you care about security, the more difficult it is for a hacker to gain access.

Along with website security, website performance is also essential. Visitors may not even wait to move on to the following content if the website loads quickly. To protect your WordPress websites from hackers, you must implement adequate security measures.