WordPress is the world's most popular CMS (content management system), and for good reason. It's a platform that allows us to build websites, it's easy to use and flexible, and it saves time and money thanks to its pre-built administration base. In fact, more than 40% of websites worldwide use WordPress, representing more than 60% of the CMS market share.
However, its popularity also makes it an attractive target for malicious actors, which means it is important to take measures to protect your website from possible attacks. Any commonly used tool is the focus of any attacker and, from Midway Technologies, we tell you how to protect WordPress in 10 steps.
When it comes to hosting your WordPress website, there are many options available, from the hosting plan offered by WordPress to other cloud hosting providers. However, we recommend choosing a WordPress-specific server, as these providers often offer specific policies and rules that can improve both the performance and security of your website.
You have a huge variety of server options, such as: Webempresa, SiteGround, Kinsta or LucusHost.
Choosing strong passwords is a fundamental tip for any public access, including your WordPress website. It is important to remember that weak passwords are a major security concern and can be easily vulnerable to hacker attacks.
To ensure that your passwords are secure, choose long, complex and unique passwords for each account. Avoid using obvious or common words such as "password" or "123456". It is also crucial to change passwords periodically and use tools such as password managers to generate strong passwords and store them securely.
We recommend a password manager such as 1password.
By default, all websites built with WordPress have several predefined accesses to access its administration. Some of these accesses are usually: www.tudominio.com/admin/ and www.tudominio.com/login/. Fortunately, there are a multitude of plug-ins available for WordPress that allow you to adjust and customize access to the administration login page, limit access via IP or VPN.
To make this adjustment, you can, for example, use the security plug-ins described in the following section.
You will be able to adjust certain parameters to improve the security of your site, such as: modifying the access URL, limiting brute force attacks, blocking the IP of the attackers, detecting edited files and much more. There are many of them, but here are the most famous: WordFence, SG Security, iThemes Security.
Backups are a crucial part of any WordPress website security plan. In case of any problems, backups can help you restore website files, the database or the entire website.
It is important to remember to make backups both on and off the server, to ensure that you have access to them in the event of a server problem.
The HTTPS protocol encrypts the information transmitted between your website and visitors, which increases the security of your data. To use HTTPS on your website, you need an SSL certificate. Most web hosting providers offer free SSL certificates.
Inactive and unused plug-ins can be an easy target for hackers, who can exploit any known vulnerability in the code to gain access to your website. In addition, inactive plug-ins can slow down your website and negatively affect your site's performance.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an additional security measure that can help you protect your WordPress website from potential threats. By employing 2FA, a second authentication factor, in addition to your password, is required to access your website.
Updates that appear in WordPress may include: bug fixes, performance optimizations, new features and vulnerability fixes. We always recommend running these updates in a secure environment, such as a staging or clone of the website.
We recommend you to try the Manage WP tool. It allows you to see, at a glance, all the WordPress sites you have and the pending updates, those with vulnerabilities, perform backups and much more. In addition, it has a very low cost per tool, 100% recommended!
A WordPress professional can take care of important maintenance tasks, such as updating WordPress, plug-ins and themes. Keeping your website up to date is critical to protect it from potential security vulnerabilities. Updates often include security fixes, and it is important to install them as soon as they become available.
In addition to updating your website, a WordPress professional can perform additional security tasks, such as setting up backups. These tasks can help you keep your website secure and protect your data in the event of a problem.
WordPress is a popular and flexible content management platform that has proven to be a powerful tool for building websites. However, its popularity also makes it an attractive target to be subjected to the practices of various malicious attackers.
Our team of cybersecurity experts is highly trained in identifying and resolving security vulnerabilities in WordPress websites. Our goal is to help you protect your company from potential threats and malicious attacks, ensuring the continuity of your business and the protection of your data and that of your customers.
