WordPress Hacks: 5 Ways to Protect WordPress from Hacking

There are many other things to do with website security. Web sites are unfortunately prone to security risks. And so are any networks to which web servers are connected. Setting aside risks created by employee use or misuse of network resources, your web server and the site it hosts present your most serious sources of security risk.

Web servers by design open a window between your network and the world. The care taken with server maintenance, web application updates, and your web site coding will define the size of that window, limit the kind of information that can pass through it and thus establish the degree of web security you will have.

WordPress is an Open Source software system used by millions of people around the world to create beautiful websites and blogs. It is completely customizable by the use of themes and plugins. WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog.

There are many other ways to secure your WordPress website, but the below mentioned 5 tricks and tips are simple, easy to apply and enhanced with safety standards.

Let’s discuss this in details ahead.

Install a WordPress Security Plugin

It’s a time-consuming work to regularly check your website security for malware and unless you regularly update your knowledge of coding practices you may not even realize you’re looking at a piece of malware written into the code. Luckily other’s have realized that not everyone is a developer and have put out WordPress security plugins to help. A security plugin takes care your site security, scans for malware and monitors your site 24/7 to regularly check what is happening on your site.

– Sucuri.net is a great WordPress security plugin. They offer security activity auditing, file integrity monitoring, remote malware scanning, blacklist monitoring, effective security hardening, post-hack security actions, security notifications, and even website firewall (for a premium)

Disable File Editing

– When you are setting up your WordPress site there is a code editor function in your dashboard which allows you to edit your theme and plugin. It can be accessed by going to Appearance>Editor. Another way you can find the plugin editor is by going under Plugins>Editor.

– Once your site is live we recommend that you disable this feature. If any hackers gain access to your WordPress admin panel, they can inject subtle, malicious code to your theme and plugin. Often times the code will be so subtle you may not notice anything is amiss until it is too late.

– To disable the ability to edit plugins and the theme file, simply paste the following code in your wp-config.php file.

– define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true);

Install SSL Certificate

– Nowadays Single Sockets Layer, SSL, is beneficial for all kinds of websites. Initially, SSL was needed in order to make a site secure for specific transactions, like to process payments. Today, however, Google has recognized it’s importance and provides sites with an SSL certificate a more weighted place within its search results.

– SSL is mandatory for any sites that process sensitive information, i.e. passwords, or credit card details. Without an SSL certificate, all of the data between the user’s web browser and your web server are delivered in plain text. This can be readable by hackers. By using an SSL, the sensitive information is encrypted before it is transferred between their browser and your server, making it more difficult to read and making your site more secure.

– For websites that accept sensitive information, an average SSL price is around $70-$199 per year. If you don’t accept any sensitive information you don’t need to pay for SSL certificate. Almost every hosting company offers a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate which you can install on your site.

Hide wp-config.php and .htaccess files

– While this is an advanced process for improving your site’s security, if you’re serious about your security it’s a good practice to hide your site’s .htaccess and wp-config.php files to prevent hackers from accessing them.

– We strongly recommend this option to be implemented by experienced developers, as it’s imperative to first take a backup of your site and then proceed with caution. Any mistake might make your site inaccessible.

– To hide the files, after your backup, there are two things you need to do:

– First, go to your wp-config.php file and add the following code,

<Files wp-config.php>

order allow, deny

deny from all</Files>

– In a similar method, you will add the following code to your .htaccess file,

<Files .htaccess>

order allow, deny

deny from all</Files>

– Although the process itself is very easy it’s important to ensure you have the backup before beginning in case anything goes wrong in the process.

Use a Strong Password

– Passwords are a very important part of website security and unfortunately often overlooked. If you are using a plain password that is ‘123456, abc123, password’, you need to immediately change your password. While this password may be easy to remember it is also extremely easy to guess. An advanced user can easily crack your password and get in without much hassle.

– It’s important you use a complex password, or better yet, one that is auto-generated with a variety of numbers, nonsensical letter combinations and special characters like % or ^.

Want to read more about Cyber Security? Visit the link given below…

https://www.weborion.in/blog/what-is-cyber-security/

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