How To Protect WordPress Site From Hackers

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world, but it’s also a target for hackers. In 2022, there were over 180,000 WordPress security vulnerabilities reported.

If you’re a WordPress user, it’s important to take steps to protect your site from hackers. In this article, we’ll discuss essential security tips that will help you keep your WordPress site safe in 2023.

We’ll cover everything from choosing a secure hosting provider to installing security plugins. By following these tips, you can help ensure that your WordPress site is protected from hackers and other malicious attacks.

How WordPress Sites Get Hacked

There are many ways that hackers can gain access to your WordPress site, but some of the most common methods are:

Brute force attacks

This is when hackers try to guess your username and password by trying different combinations until they succeed. This can be done manually or with automated tools that can generate thousands of attempts per minute.

Exploiting vulnerabilities

This is when hackers take advantage of security flaws in the WordPress core, themes, plugins, or server configuration. These flaws can allow hackers to inject malicious code, upload files, execute commands, or access sensitive information.

Phishing

This is when hackers trick you into revealing your login credentials or other personal information by sending you fake emails or links that look like they are from legitimate sources. For example, you might receive an email that claims to be from WordPress or your hosting provider asking you to update your account details or verify your identity.

Malware

This is when hackers infect your computer or device with malicious software that can monitor your activity, steal your data, or redirect you to malicious websites. Malware can also spread from one infected site to another through shared hosting or cross-site scripting (XSS).

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How to Protect WordPress Site from Hackers?

There are many steps that you can take to improve your WordPress security and prevent hackers from accessing your site.

Use Secure Hosting

One of the first and most important steps to secure your WordPress site is to choose a reliable and secure hosting provider. Your hosting provider is responsible for storing your website files and data on their servers, so you want to make sure that they have the best security measures in place. Our Recommended Hosting:

Some of the features that you should look for in a secure hosting provider are:

SSL certificates: SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates encrypt the data that is transferred between your website and your visitors’ browsers. This prevents hackers from intercepting and stealing sensitive information such as login credentials, credit card numbers, etc. You can check if your website has an SSL certificate by looking for a padlock icon or a “https” prefix in your address bar.

Firewalls: Firewalls are software or hardware devices that filter the incoming and outgoing traffic on your server. They block malicious requests and attacks from reaching your website, such as brute force attacks, DDoS attacks, SQL injections, etc.

Malware scanning and removal: Malware scanning and removal tools scan your website files and database for any signs of infection or corruption. They also remove any malware that they find and restore your website to its original state.

Backups: Backups are copies of your website files and data that are stored in a separate location from your server. They allow you to restore your website in case of a hack, a server failure, or any other disaster. You should always have a backup strategy in place and perform regular backups of your website.

Updates: Updates are essential for keeping your hosting server secure and up-to-date with the latest security patches and bug fixes. You should always update your hosting software whenever there is a new version available.

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Update WordPress Core, Plugins, and Themes

Another crucial step to secure your WordPress site is to update WordPress core, plugins, and themes regularly. WordPress core is the software that runs your website, plugins are extensions that add functionality to your website, and themes are templates that define the appearance of your website.

WordPress core, plugins, and themes are constantly being improved by their developers to fix bugs, add features, and enhance performance. However, they also sometimes contain vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers. That’s why it’s important to update them as soon as there is a new version available.

You can check for updates by logging into your WordPress dashboard and going to Dashboard > Updates. There you will see if there are any updates available for WordPress core, plugins, or themes. You can also enable automatic updates for some or all of them by using plugins such as Easy Updates Manager or WP Auto Updater.

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Use Strong Passwords and User Permissions

Another simple but effective way to secure your WordPress site is to use strong passwords and user permissions. Passwords are the keys that grant access to your website’s admin area, where you can manage everything related to your website. User permissions are the roles that define what each user can do on your website.

You should always use strong passwords that are hard to guess or crack by hackers. A strong password should be at least 12 characters long, contain a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, and be unique for each website. You should use a password manager such as bitwarden, LastPass or 1Password to protect your passwords securely.
You should also limit the number of users who have access to your website’s admin area, and assign them the appropriate roles according to their needs.

You should only give the Administrator role to yourself or someone you trust completely, as this role has full control over your website. You should also avoid using the default “admin” username, as this is a common target for hackers. You can change your username by creating a new user with the Administrator role, logging in with the new user, and deleting the old user.

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Install a WordPress Security Plugin

One of the easiest ways to secure your WordPress site is to install a WordPress security plugin.
Web Application Firewall (WAF): It blocks malicious requests and attacks from reaching your website, such as brute force attacks, DDoS attacks, SQL injections, etc.
Malware scanning and removal: A malware scanning and removal tool scans your website files and database for any signs of infection or corruption. It also removes any malware that it finds and restores your website to its original state.
Login security: A login security tool enhances the security of your login page by adding features such as captcha, two-factor authentication, limit login attempts, etc. It prevents hackers from guessing or stealing your login credentials or accessing your admin area.
Database security: A database security tool protects your database from unauthorized access or modification. It also optimizes your database performance by cleaning up unnecessary data and tables.
File security: A file security tool protects your website files from unauthorized access or modification. It also checks the integrity of your files and alerts you of any changes or anomalies.
Some of the best WordPress security plugins that offer these features are Sucuri Security, Wordfence Security, iThemes Security, etc.

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Conclusion

In today’s digital world, it is more important than ever to protect your WordPress site from hackers. By following the tips in this article, you can significantly reduce your risk of being attacked. These tips include keeping your WordPress software up to date, using strong passwords and two-factor authentication, installing a security plugin, being careful what plugins and themes you install, and backing up your site regularly. By following these tips, you can help to keep your WordPress site safe from hackers