Securing WordPress sites is a major concern nowadays as we’ve recently seen many websites get hacked. WordPress is a very easy platform and welcoming to non-programmers, and that has made it very popular with people with no technical knowledge. Managing WordPress sites or blogs is very easy which makes getting a webmaster unnecessary.
But all these great advantages of WordPress are precisely what makes it so easily hackable. It is popular, it is a platform used by non-tech people, and these two qualities means that there will be significant interest from the hacker community to mess with any remotely successful WordPress website and try to scam it out of money. If you’ve been worrying about the recent trend, this article is for you. You’ll learn the most common ways of defending your WordPress website from malicious attacks.
Follow WordPress Best-Practices
Do not use the default admin user. After installing WordPress, the default user has the administrator role. Because it comes with every WordPress installation and people unfamiliar with security don’t realize the importance of changing the username and password, hackers almost always try to hijack a website through the default admin user first. It is really easy to do and it doesn’t take them any time. So it is always advisable to create a new username with admin rights and then delete the default administrative user. But if you want to keep the default user, be sure to change the role from admin to the subscriber.
Hide the version of WordPress
Ensure that your website/blog does not display the WordPress version. This will allow potential hackers to learn which version of WordPress you’re using, and if they learn you are working on an older or uncorrected version of WordPress, they’ll use this information to launch successful attacks on your website. You should also delete the readme.html from the main dictionary because it displays the WordPress version.
Always stay up to date with the latest version of WordPress as updates provide you with security fixes all the time. You will get a notification on your dashboard for all kinds of updates like WordPress update, plug-in update, and feature updates. Make sure you don’t ignore notifications about updates and try to ensure your website is up-to-date as soon as possible.
Secure the Database
WordPress database tables have default names like wp_users, wp_posts, etc. It is best to change the names of the default database tables by changing the table prefix to some random value. Changing the prefix means changing the “wp_” part. There is a plugin available called “DB Prefix Change” that can help you with this part. This will make it harder for hackers to mount a successful attack on your website’s database.
Secure WordPress Security Keys
You must update WordPress security keys. First, create six security keys and open wp-config.php. Then replace the virtual keys with new ones. The advantage of this is that no one can log into your WordPress account without your knowledge because the cookies will become invalid.
Conclusion
In this article, you learned the most important steps you need to take to keep your WordPress website safe. Of course, we didn’t cover everything, and if you’re not careful and knowledgeable, you might get hacked. That’s why, if you’re not a tech-savvy person, we recommend not even attempting to develop the website yourself. Handing it off to an expert agency that provides PSD to responsive WordPress HTML and will be willing to implement your website idea. A professional web designer will make sure to follow all the necessary safety guidelines.
