Essential Tips for Securing Your WordPress Website

Oct 16, 2024 | Information Security, WordPress

wordpress-security

Since October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we wanted to talk about WordPress security. Like any other application in your tech stack, your WordPress website is vulnerable to cyberattacks if it is not properly maintained, secured, and updated.

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems on the market, powering over 40% of all websites. The platform’s popularity also makes it a target for hackers who are looking to breach outdated WordPress websites with security holes. If your website is breached, it can compromise your confidential data, hurt your reputation, and cost you customers. So, it’s important to prioritize the security of your website.

In this blog post, we explore 7 steps you can take to secure your WordPress website.

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why you need WordPress security?

WordPress security is important for two main reasons –

Your customers expect your website to be secure.

Website security has an impact on your company’s reputation.

Today, cybersecurity crimes are on the rise. If you take security lightly, you are leaving your website open to attacks. Once your website is breached, hackers can steal confidential customer data, such as payment information, or even block access to your company’s mission-critical files till a ransom is paid. Aside from the financial damage, a data breach will also hurt your company’s reputation and weaken customers’ trust in your business. This is why it’s crucial to be proactive about safeguarding your website.

Besides, a secure website is also good for SEO. Google considers several factors when ranking websites and security is one of them. In fact, if your website is hacked, it can lead to your site being dropped from search rankings. Bottom line – you need WordPress security to protect the integrity of your website and, in turn, your business.

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WordPress security: 7 steps to protect your website

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Choose a good hosting provider

A good web host has a big influence on the security of your WordPress website. Your WordPress hosting provider should have strong security measures to protect their servers and your website.

Our team partners with WP Engine, a managed WordPress host. WP Engine helps ensure optimization and maintenance of your server, automated updates for plugins, themes, and PHP, and proactively defends against any security threats.

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Consistently keep your WordPress version, themes, & plugins current

Keeping WordPress core, themes, and plugins up to date is one of the best ways to secure your website.

Every new WordPress core release comes with bug fixes and security patches to eliminate any vulnerabilities. If you don’t keep your WordPress website current, you risk running code with security gaps that could be exploited by a hacker. So, make sure to consistently update to the latest version of WordPress.

Similarly, be mindful when selecting and installing plugins for your WordPress website. Implementing a sketchy plugin can expose your website to security vulnerabilities. Further, installing too many plugins can increase your attack surface. So, do your research to ensure the plugins you choose are legitimate, necessary, and still supported.
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Install SSL Certificate

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate provides an additional layer of security to your website. The SSL essentially encrypts communication between your website and the site visitor’s computer, helping to protect sensitive data, such as credit card information, from malicious actors.
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Regularly back up your data

Regularly backing up your data in the cloud is essential to ensure you can still retrieve these mission-critical files in the event of a cyberattack or another incident that threatens your access.
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Maintain password integrity with WordPress SSO

Implement strong password policies. If your users create weak passwords or reuse passwords to log into the backend of your WordPress website, this will leave your site vulnerable to hackers.

Password fatigue is a common cause of weak passwords. You can combat this by implementing WordPress Single Sign-On (SSO), which can elevate security and streamline access management. To learn more about this increasingly popular tool, check out our blog post, “What is WordPress SSO?”

Another option is implementing a password manager that can generate unique passwords and track them for users. This, combined with multi-factor authentication, can enable users to securely sign into your WordPress website.

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Use a firewall

A firewall offers an extra layer of defense, scanning and blocking traffic to your website from malicious sources, such as suspicious IP addresses or bots. This is a great tool to maximize protection of your website.
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Conduct on-going security monitoring

Consistently monitor and audit your website to catch any security gaps or misconfigurations before they are exploited by a hacker.
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leverage our WordPress Maintenance Plans to secure your website!

GraVoc offers extensive, tiered WordPress Hosting & Maintenance Plans that offer secure cloud hosting, continuous security monitoring, and timely updates to your plugins and WordPress core versions to keep your website secure. Check out our packages below or contact us today to get started!

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