No one wants to lose their website, business, user data, and brand in the market, and you need to secure your Wordpress website from any attacks. 

Suppose if you’re getting emails about unauthorized login attempts on your WordPress website, then you start feeling worried and want to secure your website from hackers. Then you’re reading the right article. In this article, we’ve covered the top 10 ways to protect your WordPress login from unauthorized access. When you already prepared and implemented these ways, you can focus on your website instead of worrying about unauthorized access. 

These ways are working and come with the best Security that will not hack your website.

Without wasting a second, Let’s begin!

These top 10 Ways come with basic to advanced Security. All these Ways are tried and tested, and after reading this article, you need to implement these ways and make your website more secure.

Method #1 Create A Strong Password

As we discussed, we’ll start from basic, and then we’ll work on advanced security. The first method you need to follow, create a strong password. When you make a strong password that is not easy to crack via combination, then you’ve already cleared your first step for security. You need to create a complete, hard, and strong password for your WordPress admin access.

You can create a combination of symbols, letters, and numbers and make it hard to crack. And if you don’t have any idea how to create a strong password, then there are so many password generator tools available to make it for your website. First, identify if your password is simple or you need to create a strong password? Then immediately create a new strong password for your website. And it’s not a one-time password; make sure you’re changing your password from time to time and keep updated on your website. 

Method #2 Add Limit Login Attempts Feature

The most fantastic way to get notifications if someone tries to hack your password is to add this feature or limit login. You know the correct password, then you can log in in one attempt, and that’s why you need to add limited login features so that if someone tries to crack the password, they do not have many chances to do it. You need to add these Limit login features yourself because WordPress has unlimited login attempts without any Notification. If you want to add a limit to your WordPress website, then you need to use plugins to add a limitation in your account for login attempts. We suggest you add three limit login attempts on your website.

Method #3 Enable Two-Factor Authentication

The most important and must-have security in WordPress is, install Two-Factor Authentication security on the website. And when you install Two-Factor Authentication, security means whenever you log in to WordPress, you’ll get a secret code on your phone or mail, and then you can log in to your account. This is a really useful way to Secure your account from any attacks. And whenever you log in, you’ll get a unique code, so don’t worry about it. You can install a plugin for Two-Factor Authentication in your WordPress and set up your website for higher security. 

Method #4 Setup An Extra Password Via The .htaccess File

You always need a backup password for your WordPress account. And for this, you need to create a new password via the .htaccess file for additional security. If your website is hacked, then you can recover your website by using an additional password. By using this method, brute force attacks can’t affect your website. 

You always have a backup password for your website to take backups, restore Account, and access them safely. You need to Set Up the .htaccess file via FTP access. But if you don’t know how to set up a .htaccess file password, then you can follow below instructions:

● First, you must create an empty file .htpasswd and add it to the leading directory, where .htaccess already has. It depends on hosting service providers. If it allows you to create a password only then, you can make it.

● And if your hosting has Cpanel, then you can quickly edit it and create files. 

● When you’ve created a file, add the username and password you want to add as a second option, but make sure that you’re also selecting a tough password with combinations.

● Save that file and upload it to your hosting server. 

Now your new username and password upload on hosting and WordPress, that’s it. You’ve another backup password ready for your website security. 

Method #5 Invest In Secure WordPress Hosting

Suppose you know your website’s worth if you know what amount of effort you put to build your website at any level. Then you don’t want to lose everything, the entire website, to save a small amount of money. You need to purchase premium hosting that comes with high security.

Pick a wordpress hosting whose main priority is providing the best hosting with a guarantee. Hosting should be updated with the latest OS, check Malware issues in the website, and remove it if any. There are so many types of WordPress hosting available in the market, but you need to understand which one is really powerful and secure. When you pick the right hosting for your website, you’ve already come with high security. 

Method #6 Always Use Latest (WordPress/Theme/Plugin)

If you’re using the old version of WordPress or its Plugins, then it’s the right time to update all your plugins, themes, and WordPress versions. Because the latest version comes with high security and fewer chances of Malware attacks. The best part of updating all your plugins, theme, and WordPress is, remove all bugs after Update and Secure your WordPress platform. But there are Millions of businesses using outdated versions of plugins, Theme with the hope of securities in mind. But it’s not working. Sooner or later, their website gets hacked, and they can’t do anything. Their entire business vanishes from the internet, and that’s why you need to keep updating your WordPress plugin and theme so that you’ll secure your website. 

You know about website crashes, it’s not happening because of Malware attacks. It’s because of using outdated plugins, WordPress, and Themes that come with bugs and crash your entire website. There are tons of reasons to keep updating your website and keep it Secure. 

And if you don’t know how to Update these plugins, read below to understand the step-by-step process of updating. 

To Update Your WordPress Platform.

● If you want to update your WordPress platform with the latest version, then first go to the dashboard and click on the “Update Now” button.

● After clicking, everything will be done automatically, and you don’t need to do anything.

To Update Your WordPress Plugins.

You need to keep updating your plugins to make your website more secure. And it’s process is similar to the Platform update process:

● Click on Plugins at the left sidebar and tick all the plugins you want to update at the new version

● After selecting, you’ll get different options to choose the Update plugin option, and automatically all your plugins will be updated.

You can select Specific plugins you want to update; else, you can select all plugins in one click and update them. And you need to keep checking if any new updates are coming because plugins didn’t update themselves – you need to keep updating plugins of your WordPress website. 

Method #7 Use WordPress Security Plugins

If you want to keep your WordPress platform secured, you need to pick the best security Plugins. And that’s why we’ve listed some most popular and useful security Plugins for your WordPress website that help you do better Security from any hack or malware attack. 

Some of the best security Plugins in WordPress:

● Sucuri Security

● iThemes Security

● WordFence Security

● WP fail2ban

● SecuPress

You can download and install these WordPress plugins for security purposes. 

And the features you’ll get by using these Plugins are:

● You can create a very strong password

● Easily to update on WordPress

● Malware Scanning 

● Two-Factor Authentication security

● Recaptcha

● It comes with a WordPress Security firewall

● IP Whitelisting/Blacklisting

● Block Malicious Networks

And many more important features you need in security. The best part of using these tools, you can keep checking your system, and if any Malware is found, you can easily remove it.

Method #8 Check File And Server Permissions

File permissions play a significant role in your WordPress security. When you’re installing any tool or web server, it takes file permissions, and with this access, anyone can use your website. So you need to understand which type of file permissions you need to Allow because it affects your WordPress security. So first, let’s see the correct permission you need to allow:

File Permissions:

●    Read permission allow, if User has Right to read it

●    Write permission allow, if the user has the right to edit or modify files

●    Execute permission allow if users have the right to execute or run files

Directory Permissions:

●    Read permission allow, if Users have right to read directory

●    Write permission allow, if users have the right to Write, add or delete Directory

●    Execute permission allow if users have the Right to run, execute or perform directory

And if you want to check all your permission in WordPress, then the best Plugin you can use to find permission. 

Method #9 Prevent Hotlinking

If you don’t know about Hotlinking, then let me clear you. Hotlinking means finding an image on the internet, picking the URL, and adding the image to your website by using the URL. So it means you add a picture to your website, but its location shows from different websites on the internet. That’s called Hotlinking, and it’s not a good deal if you’re using someone else’s images on your website; you need to pay an extra cost. 

Actual example: When Huffington Post used other websites’ cartoons with multiple images, they needed to pay a $1,000+ bill. 

That’s why you need to pay attention before doing Hotlinking on your website. There are some areas where you need to prevent Hotlinking, like Apache, NGINX, and CDN. And if you don’t know how to prevent it, then follow the given steps below:

–      Prevent Hotlinking in Apache

If you want to prevent Hotlinking in Apache, you don’t need to do any extra Coding or install any plugin. Just copy the below code and paste it into the .htaccess file.

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?yourdomain.com [NC]

RewriteRule \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ http://dropbox.com/hotlink-placeholder.jpg [NC,R,L]

–      Prevent Hotlinking in NGINX

If you want to prevent Hotlinking in NGINX, again, you don’t need to do anything. Just modify and paste this code we’ve given below:

location ~ .(gif|png|jpe?g)$ {

valid_referers none blocked ~.google. ~.bing. ~.yahoo yourdomain.com *.yourdomain.com;

if ($invalid_referer) {

return 403;

}

}

–      Prevent Hotlinking on CDN

If you’re adding images from CDN, then you need to Prevent it, but you need to use different methods to prevent it. By using some Popular CDN providers

● Hotlink protection with KeyCDN

● Hotlink protection with Cloudflare

● Hotlink protection with MaxCDN

By using these methods, you can prevent Hotlinking from different sources. Hotlinking is a necessary point to consider and try to prevent it; it can be costly for your website. 

Method #10 Use HTTPs For Encrypted Connection – SSL Certificate

The most important and best way to secure your WordPress is by installing an SSL certificate on your website. It’s must-have security in your website, and only then can you browse safely on the internet. There are tons of benefits you’ll get by installing an SSL certificate on your website.

Here are some significant reasons behind Installing an SSL certificate on your website:

1. Security

The most crucial Priority of our website is security, not hacking or malware attack. Because if you’re running an e-commerce website, portfolio, services-based, or vendors website, you need to have security in your website because you’re getting visitors information, sales, leads, and that’s why having security in your website is a must-have. If you’ve installed an SSL certificate on your website, then you’ve Protected the website. And if you don’t install an SSL certificate, then any Hacker can easily steal all data from your website in minutes.

And after installing an SSL certificate on your website, you can easily prevent Hacking or malware attacks. The best part is, installing an SSL certificate is so easy because it comes with hosting, and you can tell the live chat support team to install an SSL certificate on your website, and you don’t need to do any technical things. After a few minutes, your SSL certificate is successfully installed on your WordPress website.

2. SEO

Anyone who creates websites on the internet, another reason is to get Infront of people. When installing an SSL certificate, you’ll get better SEO optimization because Google considers your website trusted and secured. Google also said that those websites with an SSL certificate would get a better ranking on Google and be considered a trusted website.

3. Trust & Credibility

Before seeing your website, first, they’ll see if it’s secured or not, then they’ll make decisions. Most of the visitors first look, the website is secured or not, and if they find it is not secure, they’ll leave the website immediately because they don’t trust that website, and Google will also downgrade the ranking of that website. That’s why you need to install an SSL certificate on your website to build trust and authority on the internet. 

4. Chrome Warning

How do visitors know if a website is secured or not? This is a feature of chrome. When visitors use chrome to visit any website, chrome immediately adds a notification Pop-up like “not secured,” which means this website is not Secured and not Trustworthy. And if your website has this type of notification, immediately install an SSL certificate on your website, else you can lose trust and authority in the market. 

5. Performance

If you’re using a not secured website or using a secured website, the difference you’ll instantly see. That’s why you need to install an SSL certificate if you want a high-performance website. And now everything is dependent on performance; if your website feels slow and takes time to load, then no one visits your website. It’s time to install an SSL certificate on your website and enhance your performance. 

Final Verdict

After reading this article, we hope you can implement these methods to build a more secure website and don’t get unauthorized login next time. That’s why we’ve listed the top 10 methods to protect your website from any attacks. All these ways are tried and tested and give you extraordinary results and boost your website Performance. You’re building a website with a lot of effort, time, and money, then don’t lose it by one simple mistake. Make sure your website is Highly protected from any attacks and keep updating your website. Drop your comment and let me know which method you like the most to protect your website?

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