7 Effective Ways to Protect a WordPress Website From Hackers

Even though WordPress has grown into popularity, this gives chances to hackers to try their little acts in creating some issues among users. Recent statistics show that more than 80 million websites are powered by WordPress. Among the lot, around 70% are quite vulnerable to attacks. People may not know if their sites are attacked unless the last moment arrives. If you think no one has the time to think about your small business site or blog then think again. Attacks can happen not because your site is vulnerable to it, but only when the hackers try to get into your business without your confirmation. So you need to work hard to Protect a WordPress Website From Hackers as the first step to consider. For that, simple seven steps might help you big time.

1. Try installing Sucuri:

Even though it might sound a bit promotional, but Sucuri seems to be one of the most promising third-party security platforms to consider. It is your complete package for website security, DDoS protection, and CDN support service. This platform helps you clean and even recover websites if affected by malware. At the same time, the company offers tools for securing and hardening websites to avoid getting it into trouble in the first place. If your site has been compromised, register with the company, submit a malware request and let the experts take care of it on your behalf.

2. Secure your current login page and avoid force attacks:

Everyone is well-aware of the standard login page URL of WordPress. You can access the backend of the website from there. So, people try to brute force into the way. For that, they just have to add /wp-admin/ or /wp-login.php at the very end of the domain name. The best recommendation in this regard is to customize the current login page URL and the interaction of the page. This is the first step to consider while trying securing the website. For securing a website, you have to:

• Set up website lockdown and even ban users
• You might even have to use 2-factor authentication
• Use email as a login ID
• Rename the URL of the login
• Start adjusting passwords

3. Using some strong passwords:

One of the most promising things for you to check while working on WordPress pages is to use strong passwords. Try using the password for the administrator. Avoid using any simple or letter only option. Try creating some stronger ones, which might include numbers, letters, and symbols. Some examples of strong passwords are @#word%$pre496ss, W0rd1298press @#% and more. It isn’t difficult to change your existing password. You can do that by selecting USERS or ALL USERS, situated on the left side of the menu. From the user’s list, select the term EDIT and scroll down to the password area.

4. Secure the admin dashboard:

The most engaging part according to a hacker is the admin dashboard of your website. It is indeed the most promising and protected part of the entire website. So, attacking this strongest part is no doubt challenging. If hackers can accomplish that, it will be their moral victory and they can get access to do a lot of damage. Following some simple steps can help you big time in this regard.

• You can protect the wp-admin directory as the first step to take, as it is the heart of the WordPress website.
• For encrypting data, you are cordially invited to use SSL or Secured Socket Layer. It is one way to secure the admin panel and data transfer between servers and browsers.
• Try adding user accounts with ultimate care. As you have to sometimes work with multiple people accessing the admin panel, be very careful.

5. Try changing default admin names of users:

The first thing which hackers might try to do is find out about the administrator username. So, using some of the obvious user names like administrator, admin, and hosts is not a clever task. You have to change the names to make then difficulty and rather tricky. Furthermore, do not waste time and review the roles of users and ensure there is only one administrator to the WordPress site. Other users will be placed under the “Contributor” tab. Delete all other users who are not valid.

6. Secure the database:

The database is a platform to store all data and information of a site, as created by developers, working in WordPress development company. So, taking proper care of your website’s database is crucial. For focusing on this section, you might have to follow some simple tricks.

• You need to change the prefix of the WordPress database table
• Try backing up your WordPress site at regular interval
• Set up some strong passwords for database

7. Safety measures for hosting setup:

Most of the hosting companies claim to offer an optimized environment for WP platforms. However, you need to take some steps further for better security measures. You have to protect the wp-config.php file. This file comprises of some major information about WP installation. It is one of the major files in the root directory of your site. So, if you can protect this field, you are actually protecting the core of the WordPress blog. Other than that, you have to disallow any file editing and connect the server properly every time.

Hackers are always trying hard to use new methods to break into your website without your permission. So, it is important to try and update the anti-hacking techniques from time to time. You can ask experts for help as they have already worked with multiple hackers and know the exact thing to do.

About the Author:

Linda Wester is a Sr. WordPress Developer at HireWPGeeks Ltd, A company that provides the best HTML to WordPress customization services in a convenient manner. She is a passionate writer and loves to share WordPress relates tutorials.

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