A guest post by Hardik Patel. 

If you are running a Wordpress website, apart from writing content, you should also focus on maintaining its WordPress security measures. You are liable to keep your site secure so that there are no security attacks. WordPress is a reliable Content Management System, but that does not make it resistant to cyber-attacks and hackers.

This may seem challenging at the initial stage, but there are some simple ready-to-implement Wordpress Security Measures that can save your WordPress website from the threats posed by cyber criminals. World Wide Web has too many security threats that should be mitigated with these simple tips.

1. Establish an SSL certificate

Having an SSL Certificate is of paramount important for all WordPress websites. It becomes even more inevitable for e-commerce websites. With cyber crimes on the constant rise, you need to ensure that no third party gains unauthorised access to your website content.

SSL Certificate encrypts the sensitive information of your customers and prevents a security breach. If you want to keep the trust and confidence of your customers intact, you can buy cheap SSL Certificates online. SSL certified websites have a green padlock symbol in their web browser. This represents your brand as a reputable and trustworthy one and helps you generate more customers.

2. Employ two-factor authentication

Brute force attack is commonly used for WordPress security breach as far as hacking is concerned. Two-factor authentication can help you prevent these attacks. By executing 2FA, the user can login to your website only after giving a username and password.

Apart from that, it will also ask for unique information from you that would not be available to anyone else. It can either be a one-time password or a security question that is sent through email, text message, or mobile application. Hackers are not aware of such personal details and as a result, your website stays safe.

3. Block suspicious agents

You should keep a track of malicious agents so that your website remains free from such attacks. This can be achieved through meticulously handled anti-spam restrictions. You can have email and domain blacklisting so that no suspicious users, scammers and spammers gain unauthorised access to the website.

However, the challenge is that WordPress does not have this provision by default, but certain WP plugins can help you block malicious agents to enter your website.

4. Manage file sharing

Websites are usually prone to numerous security threats if they host the sharing of user files. They can easily upload and downloading files containing viruses and other malware. This can ultimately damage the operations of the website as well as its brand value.

Document transfers and file sharing generally leads to incorporation of viruses in the website as these are common processes of e-commerce sites.

5. Choose strong passwords

For people who have the same password for all their email addresses and software accounts, you should certainly think of revamping your passwords.

A strong password is the one that is minimum 16 characters long, has wildcards like @#$ and changes according to the account. You can get a secure password on www.passwordsgenerator.net.

6. Keep your WordPress website up to date

All software programs need to be maintained regularly if you want them to run efficiently. WordPress is not an exception. You should make sure that it is updated regularly. Whether it is the themes or plugins updates, you should make sure your WordPress security measures fixes and bug fixes are made.

Work on the latest version of WordPress, but make sure you do not reveal the version that you are using. Revealing this makes it easy for the hackers to crack the weak points and hack your site.

7. Incorporate file permissions

Secure file permissions is mandatory for your WordPress website to be secure. Files and file permissions also come into picture while reading the webpage on various devices.

The same applies to the server hosting your website. Your website security gets compromised big time if everyone can get access to your website files. Control panel file manager or an FTP client allows you to check the file permissions.

8. Have regular backups

Despite taking all the precautions, your website can never be completely free from a security breach. As a result, you must have regular backups for your WordPress website.

Doing so can help you in setting restore points through which you can take your website back to a previous version. Subsequently, this is one of the WordPress security measures that will save your website from inadvertent hacking incidents that you may not be prepared for.

9. Your login URL should be customised

Modify your URL address of the login page so that hackers do not gain access to your website. A WordPress login page, by default, is easily available on /wp-login.php and public can easily sign in through the main URL.

Hackers also can easily login on this page and attempt to make a brute attack. Consequently, you should have your login URL customised to make it resistant to attacks.

10. wp-admin directory has to be secure

One of the most important WordPress security measures is to protect the wp-admin security of WordPress websites. Admin dashboard is the favourite spot for hackers and so it becomes imperative to maintain its security. You can have a password to protect the wp-admin directory.

Through this technique, you can have two passwords, one for the login page and another for the WordPress admin area. This, in turn, keeps the admin panel of your website free from hackers’ attacks.

Pro-tip: Make sure you change your WordPress database table prefix from “wp_” to something that hackers cannot figure out. This would prevent SQL injection attacks and make it impossible for the hackers to steal your WordPress database.

Have you got any of these WordPress security measures in place?

If you are planning to launch a WordPress website, consider security as the topmost priority and choose a trustworthy website host. Once you are through with the basic setup, you can follow these 10 tips and stay away from all those unwanted hackers and their attempts to ruin your website security.

If you have any other ideas about WordPress security measures, please share them in the comments below.

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