I am going to take advantage of the Internet security pull with everything that is happening, from hacks, Ransomware, etc … to talk about how you can improve WordPress security and make it more difficult for third parties to access your website.
I am sure that you have come to wonder these days to see if it can happen to you too. Well yes, it can happen to you. No one is safe from these types of attacks. However, you can take certain measures to make it more difficult for your website to be attacked.
I’m not going to get confused anymore; let’s see how you can improve WordPress security!
Keep WordPress, its plugins, and themes updated
Keeping WordPress’s plugins and themes updated is an important task to improve WordPress security. Most security problems come from outdated WordPress or plugin versions.
It should be remembered that with each update security problems are solved. That is why it is important to have all the themes, plugins, and WordPress as updated as possible. I say possible because many times, due to compatibility problems, you have to wait for updates to the theme or other plugins to update the rest.
Hackers tend to primarily attack sites with older versions, as they are often more vulnerable by not incorporating sufficient protection for known attack types.
No plugins or themes nulled or cracked
Using nulled or cracked plugins or themes can jeopardize your WordPress installation. As it happens when you use pirated programs on your computer, in WordPress, it is exactly the same.
If you are an expert in the PHP language and have read the code without seeing anything strange ahead. However, I doubt that everyone who uses this type of theme and plugins are experts in PHP and even if they are, they start looking line by line to see if they find anything strange.
Why do I say to find you something weird? To download a nulled theme or plugin, someone has had to modify its code, since they are usually paid elements, and they have to ensure that it can be installed for free. While modifying the theme or plugin may introduce some disguised malicious code that can damage your website.
What problems can you run into with a nulled or cracked theme or plugin?
- Send SPAM to the server
- Redirect all or part of visits to an external website
- Enter links on the website that lead to external pages
- Introduces new pages to the website with unethical content
- They steal information from the website database
- They damage the performance of the server.
Protect the WordPress configuration file wp-config.php
Protecting the WordPress wp-config.php file is a way to reinforce the security of your website since from this file, you have access to sensitive information about your WordPress such as security keys and databases, and connection details.
How can you protect the wp-config.php file?
One of the measures you can take is to prevent access to the configuration file through htacces. Just add the following lines of code to the end of your htacces file to prevent someone from accessing it.
Protect the uploaded files folder
One of the possible entry ways for intruders to your WordPress is through the “uploads ” folder.
It is important to secure this folder as much as possible to avoid unwanted file uploads, especially if you have enabled the publication of articles by third parties.
As in the previous point, you can protect this folder by adding code in your htaccess.
Change the access name “admin”
Do you think that behind the hacks there is a man trying to access your website? Well, let me tell you, it’s not quite like that. Most of the time they are bots configured to attack WordPress installations with a specific feature. A very common characteristic is to search for those with the username “admin” since they have 50% of the equation solved.
Limit failed access attempts
One of the ways to try to enter the administration panel of your WordPress is by testing to see if your password is correct. To prevent them from trying many times and getting it right, limit the number of possible attempts to access your panel.
For this, if you cannot configure it from your hosting, there are plugins such as WP Login Limit Attempts.
Modify your WordPress login URL
If your entry URL to your website is mydomain.com/wp-admin, change it. It is too easy since it is the URL that comes by default to access all WordPress.
Additional protection with double authentication
Adding double authentication security is highly recommended. Many people, due to ignorance or laziness, prefer not to.
There are plugins for WordPress that are very easy to install and configure that allow you to improve the security of the WordPress login form.
- Google Authenticator
- Latch
Recent Comments