Smart Solutions For Wordpress Security Issues

Maintaining security for a WordPress site isn’t always an easy matter. Even the best of precautions don’t always keep you 100% safe from hacks. However, there are several things that you can do to proactively protect your site from hacking attempts and understanding where weaknesses in design lie will help us know how we should go about it.

Table of Contents

Use strong passwords for each account (we recommend using at least 16 characters including numbers, symbols, upper case letters)

A major weak point is passwords which may be acquired through brute force or social engineering methods such as phishing scams-a method used when email accounts get hacked into by using deceptive emails asking users to enter their credentials with promises of rewards (clickbait). Unfortunately, this happens more often than not because people use simple words like “password” on websites they think won’t be targeted but hackers usually have access to the top 1000 websites on the Alexa list. It’s not hard to see why people resort to this method and it could be considered a good practice to keep the most important accounts like banking or email on separate passwords which require an extra level of complexity (complexity rules-I recommend that you use long passphrases consisting of upper and lower case letters, numbers, punctuation marks and symbols). An easy way to do this is through a Password Generator (https://passwordsgenerator.net/)

Install the latest version of a security plugin like Wordfence, which will scan for malware and other suspicious activity

The thing about hackers is that they usually target sites using outdated plugins and themes which will result in them having security vulnerabilities if they’re not frequently updated. The hackers also know how WordPress stores its information as every instance of the WordPress setup is the same. This means that they can write a basic script and hack your site to gain access or go through the WordPress admin dashboard to add any user account they wish, granting them full site control.

Installing security plug-ins for your site will give you an added measure of protection against hacking.

These are useful not only for preventing the security breach in the first place but also for identifying where the breach occurred if your site does eventually get hacked.

Always update your WordPress when a new version is released.

This is critical for safety and security. WordPress is popular with publishers, but this makes it a popular target for hackers as well. If you’re not vigilant, someone will find a loophole and worm their way into your site. You could end up with thousands of pieces of new content showing up on your blog that are intended to provide SEO for the hacker.

If you have any plugins installed on your website, make sure they are all legitimate

Ensure the plugins you have installed on your WordPress website are actively maintained. There are some websites like wpscan.com/plugins that will provide you with a list of plugins that have known security issues and should not be used due to those vulnerabilities.

If you see any changes in content, and/or appearance on your website which didn’t come from you or in your control then most likely your site might have been hacked so immediately check for login attempts to your email account as the hacker will probably want to redirect users to another site. Always assume the worst-case scenario at all times because if you do get hacked there’s nothing worse than being too relaxed about it and end up losing money or valuable information along with having your reputation tarnished.

Conclusion

Always keep your WordPress installation updated. Keep all of your plugins up to date. Use a strong password, and if possible require it to be at least eight characters long, with upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and symbols.

If you need us to audit your WordPress website or just have any questions regarding security, we are more than happy to help. Contact us here.