1. Update your WordPress software
In this article 6 Essential Security Measures for Your WordPress Website – one of the easiest methods to keep your WordPress website safe is to update your software regularly. Before updating or changing anything on your website it is important to make sure you take a backup of the website so you can recover if there are any issues or conflicts between the newly updated element and the other things already on your site. This is most likely to happen for a major update (when the version number changes at the front – going from 4.8.48 to 5.0 for example). You can check out our article on Easily Backup Your WordPress Website With UpdraftPlus for details on how to do this.
By making sure to update your WordPress software regularly will patch any known security issues and often give performance upgrades. Keeping your WordPress website up to date is probably one of the most important action you can take in maintaining safety along with having a very strong Password. WPDesigns offer various maintenance packages which will take care of all the updates and all the other things needed.
2. Utilize a strong password
If you can remember your passwords – either you have an absolutely incredibly superhuman memory or they are not strong enough…
Having a strong password is essential for securing your WordPress website. You must never reuse the same password across multiple accounts. You need to make sure to use different passwords for each account and website that you own. Having many strong passwords is definitely confusing and impossible to remember, this is why a password manager is of the utmost importance. An even bigger issue is that if someone breaches one account they can then breach them all. You can read our password guide on how to secure your passwords safely, easily and for free.
3. Utilize two-step verification
Two-factor authentication or 2FA is an essential step to make sure if the username and password are breached your account will remain safe. Generally, two-factor authentication requires you to input your password and a time-sensitive secondary code (which normally comes in your mobile or email) to allow you to log into the account. Two Factor Authentication adds a strong and important layer to your WordPress website and should be used for your websites as well as your other accounts online.
Download the Google Authenticator App
You don’t need to complete all of the 6 Essential Security Measures for Your WordPress Website to be more secure but checking off as many as you can help a lot!
The idea is to minimise the entry points and risks to your website. By taking more action you will tip the odds in your favour and help to increase the time it takes to get into your site. If someone or something does then you have a better system in place to find the issue and recover a healthy site.
4. Run Malware Scans
Malicious software can penetrate, infect and damage WordPress website servers. Sometimes the software may attack the server, and you have no idea about it. You should run routine malware scans of your system. The scans will not stop the malware from penetrating into your website but they will alert you to anything there that should not be which will allow you to remove it as soon as possible!
5. Backup- Everything
If it happens and you get hacked and the website is ruined it is incredibly important that you need to have a backup somewhere that you can restore. Without a backup of your website then all your site, the hours, the work, the SEO and reputation is lost. Make sure that you back up to multiple locations – this should be on-site, off-site and cloud.
Updraftplus is the Plugin we recommend at WPDesigns. It is a fantastic free plugin that allows you to create simple backups, download them, automatically schedule them and restore your files when needed. You can read more about UpdraftPlus in the short guide we put together “Easily Backup Your WordPress Website With UpdraftPlus“.
6. Add a Security Plugin for Your Safety
iThemes Security Pro: iThemes is a fantastic security plugin that we highly rate and recommend, they offer two versions, the first is the free plugin which is great and helps to secure your WordPress website but they second is paid and takes your security to another level with the features and functions that it offers.
You can read more about it in our article iThemes Security Pro WordPress Plugin. It provides you with 30+ methods to protect and secure your WordPress website.
In Conclusion for 6 Essential Security Measures for Your WordPress Website
WordPress is a fantastic system that is secure and safe but due to its incredible popularity, this makes it a big target for hackers and other malicious actors from across the globe. Luckily WordPress in its latest versions is safe but the problems arise through adding Plugins and allowing other elements to become out of date. By following the simple advice here in 5 Essential Security Measures for Your WordPress Website – taking all or at least some of the measures above you can go along way to securing your website to the next level and making sure only the people meant to have access are the ones that do have access. At WPDesigns we would recommend these steps as a basis to keep your site safe and secure and offer our clients all of this in our maintenance packages.
