WordPress is one of the widely used CMS for many kinds of business websites. WordPress is quite easy to use and comes with various features with amazing SEO tools. In case you are using WordPress then it is certainly a good choice for your business or blogging but if you have not tried it yet, and then you should try WordPress as the finest tool for putting your business online. Apart from this WordPress is the world’s number one Content Management System (CMS) which makes it convenient to use. At times when this popularity becomes a risk, it makes the website vulnerable to many hackers and people who execute malicious activities. With the easy access to the tools and features of the WordPress, the hackers can try to intrude and exploit your site. Here the only last thing which remains with us is how to find that your website is hacked or has some hosting malware issues.
Here, if the reputation comes on stack due to the intrusion of hackers the credibility of the website is damaged, which in turn comes with a huge cost at the security level and trust factor. This first ones lost will have an adverse effect on client’s attitude and would damage Google’s search engine rankings too. There are some steps and things to remember when you wish to secure your WordPress website, have a look at them below.
Two-Factor Authentication Login
Initiate two-factor authentification. This is a very important tip to secure your WordPress blog. This is also called as (2FA) and is one of the easiest and simplest, yet the most effective ways to preventing hack attacks.
It works by adding an extra layer of login security by requesting additional proof of ID, or any other identification feature like OTP, mobile generated codes or maybe secret questions. The WP Google Authentication plugin in WordPress is a brilliant example of a 2FA plugin which can be easily installed to secure your WordPress site’s login.
Implement Login Limits
What you can do is that you can reduce or restrict the number of login attempts on your website. IT is a very simple and easy way to prevent hackers coming inside and damaging your website’s data. It is an effective attempt which will certainly help in preventing unauthorized hackers and malicious manual login attempts. This you will find in the wp-admin where there’s a locking mechanism in the login retry of your website’s login page. The WP may limit login plugin and prevent any attempted brute force attack. This is done by blocking login page with any other IP addresses that cross the threshold of numerous failed login attempts during a given period of time.
Please use email while login
For every website, you need to put a username and login id with the password to access the data of the website, thus here in WordPress when you put your username and login details make sure you use email id for the same. Thus, make this by default to use email id for log in details as this is a more secure approach. Why we have to do so? As usernames are easy to predict, on the other hand, the email IDs are not. Moreover, every WordPress account has been given by a unique email address, making it a valid identification sign for logging in. In WordPress, the WP Email Login plugin works well for this step to execute properly. The best part is it will start working immediately once the activation is done and there’ no need of any other kind of configuration. You can test is by logging out form your website and again login in.
Make Your Passwords Secure
At times the simplest options are left out to pay attention. We are talking about passwords, it is one of the bases of any WordPress website and is used every time you log in but it becomes so obvious that we do not pay attention to its security. Thus, keep chasing the passwords of your website so that hackers get a hard time to breach the security. Let’s face it, your passwords can be simple but yet they need to be strong with the right of numbers and characters. Break the password into numbers, special characters lowercase and uppercase etc. This practice will make your password secure and strong and in turn, make your website secure. For generating a strong password there is a tool – the password generator tool that can help you to create a strong password.
Protecting passwords with WP-Admin Directory
WordPress has one of the most important directories which are the wp-admin directory. Thus, it makes sense to password protect with this wp-admin panel and add an extra level of login security. It can be used for both – the logging in and then for WordPress admin area. You can access it by using the AskApache Password Protect plugin. The administrator will often need to visit a certain directory of wp-admin, thus, unblocking those directories can make administration easy whereas locking the rest of the directory will help otherwise.
Switching to HTTP from HTTP
A Man-In-The-Middle-Attack (MITM) is where data is sent between the two parties and is interrupted by a spy in the middle, who then monitors the data being sent between the two. The easiest and straightway to avoid this happening is to switch from your insecure HTTP to the secure HTTPS and this is done by using the SSL Certificate. This creates an encrypted, impermeable link between the browser and the web server. Apart from the extra security, the HTTPS will actually help in Google Rankings as well.
These simple and basic steps will help you monitor your WordPress website for any unwanted activity happening likely to occur and eventually will help to stop hacking. Remember, it’s often the simple things that we forget to keep a track on, and if we miss it can create a disastrous situation for your website. Thus keep it secure and stop hacking.