How to Secure Your WordPress Website – Top Tips for Improving Security
WordPress is the most popular website building tool — and with good reason. It’s powerful, flexible, and free. Now that we’re in the middle of a digital era, where our personal data and information is stored online, it’s more important than ever to protect our websites and blogs from potential hackers and data thieves.
Here are some top tips for securing your WordPress website.
Protect Your Installed Packages
WordPress comes with a variety of built-in packages and functions that can be used to create a professional-looking website with ease. However, installing third-party packages from WordPress.org or other reputable sources can also introduce security vulnerabilities into your site. For example, if you’re using a photo-sharing tool like Flickr or Instagram, then you open yourself up to unnecessary security risks from third parties.
To keep your WordPress website secure, it’s essential that you understand how these packages work and where they come from. Take a look at your site’s backend and make sure that all the installed packages are up to date. If you find that any of the packages are not, then you should either remove them or update them. For more information on updating or removing packages, visit the WordPress documentation or contact the technical support team.
You should also be careful about what plugins you use in conjunction with your WordPress website. Some plugins can introduce security vulnerabilities, such as the widely used Akismet plugin, which is a free, open-source software package that helps prevent spam on your site. However, there are equally compelling reasons to use a plugin like Akismet — such as the ability to automatically delete spam comments.
Use a Strong Password
If someone were to gain access to your WordPress account and password, they would be able to change your website’s settings and damage your online presence. Not only that, but they could also steal your website’s content or sell it on the black market.
To protect your website from potential hackers and data thieves, you need to take the time to create a strong password that you’ll never forget. If you use the same password for multiple sites, then you risk having your credentials stolen by someone who hacks one of your other accounts.
If you use a password manager — like LastPass, 1Password, or Dashlane — to generate strong, memorable passwords, then you’re taking the first step towards securing your WordPress website. The next step is to change your WordPress account’s password often (at least once a month) and make sure that you never reuse the same password across multiple accounts. For even more information on how to secure your WordPress website, be sure to check out these comprehensive guides by GoDaddy and Yoast SEO.
Keep Your Software Up To Date
Running outdated software is like leaving your house without any locks — it’s totally insecure and makes you a tempting target to hackers and data thieves. To keep your WordPress website secure, it is essential that you keep your software up to date. This means making sure that all your web browsers, email clients, and other software packages are up to date so that they can communicate with one another and access the internet safely.
There are several reasons why keeping your software up to date is so important for security. If you’re not running the latest version of any of the software packages that you use for your website, then there are vulnerabilities in older versions that hackers can exploit. It also means that if your website is being accessed by someone using an outdated web browser or software package, then your website is at risk of being compromised. For more information on keeping your software up to date, visit the WordPress documentation or contact the technical support team.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication
To further protect your WordPress website, you should look into using a two-factor authentication service like Google Authenticator or Authy. Use these services to create short-lived passwords (i.e. 6–8 characters long and containing numbers and lowercase letters) that can be used to verify your identity when logging in to your website. If someone attempts to log in to your account using your email address or the password that you’ve used for your account, then the second factor (i.e. the code that you’re sent via text message) will be required.
When selecting a two-factor authentication service, make sure that it offers additional security benefits aside from just requiring a second factor to verify your identity. For example, Google Authenticator can be used to restrict website access to specific domains or IP addresses. In the event that someone hacks one of your accounts and obtains your password, then they would also have access to your Google Authenticator settings. This could potentially lead to further security breaches since they could then use this information to take over other accounts as well.
Monitor And Test Your Sites Regularly
Keeping your WordPress website secure means taking the time to monitor it regularly and test for vulnerabilities. You can use a variety of tools to test the security of your site, from simple browser extensions to online scanners and plugins. These tools will check for security issues and provide you with a review of any problems that they find.
After testing your site for a while, you should look into writing down any bugs that you find and either fixing them yourself or contacting the technical support team. Doing this regularly will help keep your site secure since it demonstrates that you’re making an effort to stay on top of any issues that arise.
If you want to be able to fully secure your WordPress website, then you need to ensure that all its software and packages are up to date, that all its passwords are strong, and that all its accounts are protected by two-factor authentication. In addition, you can use tools like Google Authenticator and Authy to create short-lived passwords that can be used to verify your identity when logging in to your site.