The 4 Pillars of WordPress Security

WordPress Security Best Practices for 2023

43% of websites use WordPress as their content management system (CMS). WordPress is the top choice for most WordPress website owners when it comes to selecting a content management system, but as the world’s most popular CMS and vast market share, attackers are heavily focused on targeting WordPress sites.

When the proper steps are taken to secure your WordPress website through regular maintenance and following best practices for day-to-day use and account management, WordPress security is just as strong as any other platform

To help you secure your WordPress installation and make the web a safer place, we’ve prepared this comprehensive guide on maintaining a secure WordPress website when you update or launch your website to keep your site safe and secure. Below, we’ll cover how secure WordPress really is, its main vulnerabilities, and the Four Pillars of WordPress security.

Overview of WordPress Security: Is WordPress Secure?

Before we dive into the WordPress security guide, it’s important to understand just how secure WordPress is as an open-source platform.

In general, yes, WordPress is secure. Many of the world’s most popular websites use WordPress and the platform offers plenty of security features to keep any site safe. However, that doesn’t mean your WordPress site isn’t completely secure from attacks.

Sadly, WordPress has a bit of a reputation for being open to security vulnerabilities. Many businesses have experienced WordPress security issues — including big names like Reuters. In these events, security is compromised by not keeping the WordPress software and plugins up to date and ignoring important security best practices like utilizing secure WordPress hosting from Kinsta, limiting login attempts and using a web application firewall (WAF).

If a WordPress website is using an outdated version of the WordPress core software, has bad or poorly maintained plugins, and operates on a poor level of system administration, then the website’s security will be compromised and this goes for any platform you choose. This is also the case if essential web and security knowledge is lacking or if there has been an admin or server credentials leak. You’d be surprised how many people share this sensitive information over email putting their WordPress installation at risk.

As such, it’s important to understand cybercrime and stay on top of industry best practices to keep your WordPress website secure.

When looking at the security of WordPress sites, think about it like this: WordPress itself is not a perfectly secure system. Not because there is anything wrong with the platform, but because maintaining a risk-free security system would be impossible in today’s world of evolving cybercrime.

Instead, think of WordPress security as a process of risk reduction. Applying the right security measures and controls will make a big difference in lowering your chances of getting hacked.

While WordPress security vulnerabilities exist, there’s also an efficient team that works to discover and fix them with updates and patches — which is why it’s so important to maintain your website properly. The WordPress security teamincludes around 50 security experts, researchers, and lead developers that work constantly to improve the platform’s web security.

Does WordPress Have Built-In Security?

Yes, WordPress does have built-in security features. However, you still need to actively protect your WordPress site, specifically the “wp-admin folder”.

WordPress may be susceptible to security issues, but no website management system is completely safe. The platform’s own security measures are in place to protect the core software. So, relying on these security features alone isn’t necessarily good enough if you customize your site with a WordPress plugin or two.

If you don’t actively protect your site, you could face many security threats. As such, you need to make sure you follow security best practices and consistently update your site to protect it from different types of hacks and attacks.

Most security issues are the result of either poor coding or webmasters who don’t look after their site properly, and not from a lack of security options from WordPress.

Why Website Security Is So Important

Website security is vital in today’s world of cybercrime. Web security prevents hackers and cybercriminals from getting into your site and accessing sensitive information.

If a website doesn’t have proper security measures in place, it runs the risk of spreading malware and attacks on other networks, websites, and IT systems behind the web application firewall (WAF).

As technology advances and becomes a bigger part of everyday life, we rely on websites to store all kinds of sensitive data. Website security ensures this information is safe.

Hacked business websites can be damaging to both the business and its customers. If your site is hacked, it can have detrimental effects on your customers’ sensitive information and on your reputation. Just look at the recent Twitch hack that exposed things like the company’s payment information and source code.

Globally, around 30,000 websites are hacked each day, and website security has to be a top priority for all website owners.

7 Main WordPress Vulnerabilities

WordPress security issues cover seven main areas. Each of these security concerns provides a different way for hackers to enter your site.

Backdoors

Backdoor hacks happen when attackers find hidden passages to bypass security encryption and access a site. This could be through wp-admin, SFTP, FTP, cross-site scripting (XSS) and so on. Once backdoor attacks are unleashed, they can result in cross-site contamination hacks across a server.

Backdoor malware is generally encrypted to look like WordPress system files. It bypasses the normal authentication procedure for a WordPress site so that hackers can gain access.

Brute Force Attacks

A brute force attack is when hackers are able to access your website after you leave your WordPress login page on the default URL after installation. Hackers use various approaches to try out different name and password combinations until they gain access to your site.

While brute force attacks aren’t always successful, you still want to avoid their possibility. In some cases, brute force attack attempts can slow down your WordPress site by overloading your server.

There are three main ways that you can limit this security vulnerability:

First, use an advanced and secure password — preferably a long password with capital letters, numbers, and special characters.

Second, hide your WordPress login page.

Third, enable two-factor authentication on your site for an added level of login security. This will help to limit login attempts.

Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

Similar to brute force attacks, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are when hackers send many requests to a server. This eventually causes the server to crash. Hackers can use multiple infected machines around the world to create potentially disastrous attacks.

You can avoid DDoS attacks by using secure web hosting and network services like Cloudflare. Secure, managed hosts quickly pick up and respond to suspicious activity through carefully managing web server security.

Bad Security and Access Management

Poor levels of security and credentialing can also pose a security vulnerability and give hackers access to your site.

When WordPress users set up their websites, they have the option to create five different user roles with different levels of access to the website. These levels of access and credentials include administrators, editors, authors, contributors, and subscribers.

An administrator is the highest level credential with the most power over the website. They have complete access to every bit of data that the site covers — including things like banking details. If a hacker gains access to administrator credentials, they can do anything with the website.

Always be extremely careful about who you give access to and what levels of access you control. Security issues could even come from within. Only assign administrator access to people who are trustworthy enough for the responsibility.

Pharma Hacks

Pharma hacks insert rogue code into outdated WordPress websites and plugins. This causes search engines to return ads for pharmaceutical products when someone searches for the compromised website.

This hack is more of a spam problem than a traditional malware issue. However, pharma hacked websites could be flagged as spam by search engines, which could cause the site to be blocked.

Pharma hacks can involve backdoors in plugins and databases. Cleaning up these backdoors can be quite a serious task. By using secure web hosting providers with updated servers, you can reduce the risk this vulnerability poses.

Regularly updating plugins, themes, and WordPress installations will also keep your site secure from pharma hacks.

Malicious Redirects

A malicious redirect creates a backdoor in a WordPress installation using FTP, SFTP, wp-admin, and others. These attacks inject redirection codes into the website, often in .htaccess files and other WordPress core files in encoded forms. This redirects your website traffic to the malicious site.

Cross-Site Scripting

Cross-site scripting (XSS) or cookie stealing attacks all refer to common security threats by WordPress plugins. Hackers can use plugins to load insecure JavaScript into web pages without the webmaster realizing it.

Cross-site scripting attacks steal data from browsers. They do this by hijacking forums hosted on the WordPress site, allowing hackers to steal login credentials to access a WordPress account. This differs from the approach that SQL injections and malicious software use.

You can avoid cross-site scripting by properly validating website data and applying output sanitization. Also, use a recommended WordPress security plugin from your host.

The 4 Pillars of WordPress Security: How To Secure Your WordPress Site

To explain WordPress security more easily, we’re going to break it all down into four pillars. The four pillars of WordPress security make it easy for all website owners to understand security threats and best practices to help make more informed decisions.

Below, we cover sever-, website-, and user-level security as well as proper website maintenance. By following the best security practices in each of these four pillars of security, you can keep your website safe.

Pillar #1: Server-Level Security For WordPress

Most WordPress threats exist at the server level. These are some of the most common website security issues that all WordPress websites face.

Make sure you cover all of these WordPress security best practices to increase the security of your site.

Website Hosting

Website hosting plays the most important role when it comes to website security and performance. Hosting matters and the web hosting service you choose can make or break your website experience. It’s important to work with a managed WordPress host to trust that all server-level measures are in place to protect your website.

Like many things in life, you get what you pay for with web hosting. Shared hosting environments are cheap and they can work perfectly well for many websites. However, these shared hosting solutions can also lead to compromised security.

The better approach is to opt for a managed WordPress hosting service. This really only costs a few extra dollars per month and adds many additional benefits. These can include things like development, management, and performance enhancements. Most importantly though, managed WordPress hosting will significantly enhance your website’s security measures.

Shared Server vs Managed WordPress Hosting

When using a shared server, your website sits on a server with thousands of other websites. If a security breach takes place in any one of these other sites, every website on that server faces increased security risk. And if this happens, there’s nothing you can do to prevent the risk to your WordPress database.

All it takes is poor management, website owner negligence, or poor coding on a single site and your security can be compromised.

Managed WordPress hosting, on the other hand, uses a shared hosting environment to keep costs down. Moreover, it employs advanced security measures designed specifically for WordPress. Although the server is shared, each individual site is protected by individual containers on the same server. These do not allow any malicious code, bots, or attackers to move through the different websites on the server.

If a website on the server is attacked, this attack cannot spread to other sites on the server. This means the security threat is contained and your site remains safe.

Managed WordPress hosts are so sure about the security of their servers that most of them offer a security or hack guarantee. So, if anyone does manage to get through the firewall and past their security protocols, the managed WordPress host will fix the website for free.

To sum it up, make sure you choose the right website hosting and opt for a secure managed hosting provider. This way, your WordPress site will instantly achieve a far greater level of security.

Use The Latest PHP Version

PHP forms the fundamental structure of a WordPress site, plugins and themes. It’s incredibly important to use the latest PHP version on your server to help keep your WordPress site up to date and secure from threats.

If you don’t know, PHP is a general scripting language used in web development. PHP is used to develop dynamic, interactive websites. It’s a language that can be embedded into HTML, which makes it easy to add website functionality without having to use external data files.

Basically, PHP is the backbone of all WordPress sites, plugins and themes.

Each major PHP release is generally fully supported for two years after its release. During this two-year period, any bugs and security issues are fixed, monitored, and patched. This is exactly what you want when running a WordPress site.

As soon as the PHP release extends beyond this support period, it loses security support. WordPress websites without this support become exposed to unpatched vulnerabilities in their core, themes and plugins.

So, if you’re using an unsupported PHP version, it could open up a serious security threat for your site.

Sure, it can be a bit time-consuming to test the new PHP systems and make sure they work with your site’s code. But this is just something that you need to do. Running a website on an unsupported PHP should never be an option. Not only does it pose a major security risk, but an old PHP version can also impact the performance of your site.

Most WordPress websites show the PHP version in the site’s header request. However, some hosts remove the header for security reasons.

It’s best to only use a PHP version that is stable and supported. Good hosting services let you switch between PHP versions. WordPress hosts that use cPanel can generally switch PHP versions pretty easily.

Domain-Level Security and Content Delivery Networks

You can also use third-party platforms that work with your WordPress hosting to create a more secure platform.

Domain-level security and content delivery networks can stop attacks and malicious visitors before they reach your WordPress login page.

These services work by comparing the IP addresses of known hackers, historical patterns, and various other signals to figure out if the person or bot visiting the site is trustworthy. This happens before the website loads so that it can stop these threats from accessing your website completely if necessary.

This approach is called network edge security. Here’s a breakdown of two leading providers of this.

Cloudflare

Cloudflare offers industry-leading software and security for all kinds of people. Their various plans and services can be easily configured by all kinds of websites, from startups to enterprise-level super sites.

When you configure Cloudflare, your DNS is routed through their servers and content delivery networks where all login attempts to your website are carefully monitored.

The software instantly blocks brute force DDoS attacks and any malicious visitors won’t be able to access your website, plugins, themes, or WordPress core.

Cloudflare users can also control access to certain areas of their websites. This includes access to things like the login page, WordPress admin, IP address, and email domains so that only the right people can access the site.

Cloudflare doesn’t only keep WordPress secure, but it also offers performance enhancements to work with your web server. This improves speed and the overall user experience, which can improve your site’s SEO and discoverability.

Sucuri

Website owners can also use Sucuri, a tool that easily monitors and manages security on any WordPress site. Sucuri also routes a website’s DNS through its servers to prevent brute force and similar attacks before they can happen.

Sucuri offers a WordPress plugin that you can easily install in your WordPress dashboard. This plugin sends information directly to your Sucuri account. The tool also has a free website scanner to help you identify common issues and malicious code that you can clean up right down to the wp-config.php file.

Sucuri is a more simple, “hands-off” tool compared to Cloudflare. As such, it’s more suitable for entry-level users. However, Securi does not offer the performance enhancements that you can get with Cloudflare.

Limit Access to the “wp-content” Directory

All WordPress sites rely on the wp-content directory. This is usually the most commonly targeted area of any WordPress site. Hackers can use it to access WordPress themes or plugins or deploy malicious content into the website.

If your WordPress site has multiple users with an administrator account, most administrators should only be able to access certain file types in this directory. This includes pictures (.jpeg, .gif, .png), Javascript (.js), CSS (.css) and XML (.xml).

The aim of this restricted access is to prevent access to other types of data stored in the wp-content directory and disable file editing within the WordPress install.

You can apply a few lines of code in the .htaccess file in the wp-content folder to restrict this access.

The code below enables access to pictures, Javascript, CSS, and XML files but prevents access to any other type of data.

Order deny, allow
Deny from all
<Files~".(xml|css|jpe?glpng|gif|js)$">
Allow from all
</Files>

Use SSH File Transfer Protocol

Web developers need to use FTP (file transfer protocol) to access website files on the server. FTP opens up a connection to the server to transfer, remove, or modify website files.

The problem is that FTP is not actually that secure. FTP credentials are not encrypted and can be quite accessible to hackers wanting to get into your server.

To mitigate this risk, many managed WordPress hosting providers require the use of SFTP with strong passwords to enhance the server security connection and prevent hacked WordPress sites.

However, the best and most secure approach is to use SSH (secure shell). SSH is an alternative to FTP. It uses security keys and an algorithm to encrypt all of the data sent through it. This ensures your connection and user credentials are securely hidden from hackers.

Secure Your wp-config.php File

The wp-config.php file holds all the access information and keys that are necessary for securing your WordPress site. Needless to say, protecting this file is vital if you want to reduce the risk of security vulnerabilities and attacks.

You can secure the wp-config.php file by adding a few lines of code to the .htaccess file in the WordPress root directory. This is where the wp-config file resides.

The following code will add a layer of security by denying access to the wp-config.php file:

# protect wp-config.php
<files wp-config.php>
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
</files>

This will keep all of your access information and keys completely private to ensure hackers cannot gain access to your server software, themes and plugins.

Prevent Search Engines from Indexing the WordPress Admin

Search engines use crawlers to read all of the content available on the web and organize this into search results pages. If you leave the WordPress admin area open to indexing, this valuable information could end up online.

This is certainly a very rare possibility. Search engine algorithms are getting more advanced and they can understand the difference between content on your site’s main URL that should and shouldn’t be indexed. However, it’s still a good idea to boost your security against this just in case.

You can easily block the admin areas from Google crawlers by creating a robots.txt file in your root directory and adding the following code in the file:

Disallow: /wp-*

Secure /wp-admin/

The most important directory of any WordPress website is /wp-admin/. This is the core of all WordPress installations. If this directory is infiltrated by attackers, then the site as a whole is open to malicious activity.

You need to secure the /wp-admin/ directory with a strong password. This requires the website administrator to supply a password to access the standard WordPress login page and another password to access the general WordPress admin dashboard.

Cloudflare can help you add a layer of security using Cloudflare Access. This limits access to the login page URL based on certain filters that you choose. It is a failsafe way to keep your /wp-admin/ directory secure from unwanted attackers.

Modify the Default WordPress Database Table Prefix

WordPress configures its database with the “wp-” prefix by default. The problem with this standard naming convention is that it’s also well-known by malicious visitors. Thus, using it makes your database an easy target.

An easy WordPress security hack is to simply change the table prefix to something unique and unidentifiable by malicious visitors. This will keep your database hidden, adding an extra layer of security.

SSL Encryption

Keeping your WordPress admin dashboard secure is critical. Another reliable way to secure this dashboard is to protect it behind your SSL certificate (secure socket layer).

An SSL certificate encrypts the data transfer between the web browser and the webserver. This encryption makes it a lot harder for anyone to hijack your admin account or scrape your WordPress login information.

Most websites today have already switched over to HTTPS from HTTP to take advantage of the added SEO benefits that this offers. If you’re still serving content HTTP, then it’s time to make the switch. It can offer various advantages to your WordPress site as it indicates that your site is secure.

Backup Your WordPress Website Regularly

No matter what kind of website you’re running, be it a WordPress site or a basic HTML or PHP file system, you’ll need to regularly back it up.

Making regular backups of your website content, or database, WordPress themes, and plugins is necessary. It keeps all your hard work on your website safe.

If someone does manage to hack your WordPress install, you could lose years of WordPress website content and blog posts. This would completely disrupt your business, totally destroying your online presence. If this happens, it could take many years to rebuild and reestablish your online presence where it once was, regain trust, and reestablish your positioning.

To avoid this from happening, make sure you conduct regular backups.

If you’re using a managed WordPress hosting service, then your host will likely set regular backups as a default.

Many common shared web hosts will require site administrators to configure their own automatic backups in the hosting control panel. In some cases, the administrator will have to install extra plugins or software to facilitate this and download a backup file.

Regular automatic backups are non-negotiable when running any WordPress site. While backups won’t necessarily prevent attackers from entering your site, they will help you restore your site to where it was after the attack. You would be very sorry if you skip this security measure!

Pillar #2: Website Level Security

There are many different ways that attackers can target your website. In many cases, it happens through bots that are released by hackers. The bots find weaknesses or vulnerabilities in your website that they can exploit.

To prevent this from happening, your website should cover a few website-level security best practices to mitigate security risks. By paying attention to the following points, the chances of a bot finding a way into your website is low.

Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is used by many different websites, social media platforms, and enterprise-level services to make access a lot safer. Two-factor authentication secures user account data by adding an extra layer of control during logins. This ensures that only the right users can access a site.

You’ve likely used 2FA many times before. This is when you use two different login methods to prove that you are who you say you are in order to log into an account. It often involves a regular username and password login, followed by a code or one-time pin sent to you via SMS or email. You will need to input this code before being able to log in.

2FA essentially doubles your level of login security by adding an additional, more complex layer for hackers to get through.

There are many two-factor authentication plugins available for WordPress. These plugins easily allow you to add this security measure to your site.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the best WordPress security plugins.

Google Authenticator

Google Authenticator is the most advanced 2FA plugin for WordPress sites. Google offers multiple backup options for users that experience attacks through this plugin.

WordPress admins can use this plugin to configure their preferred connection options. Each user on the WordPress website can join with their regular username and password for logging in and then connect to two-factor authentication.

When using the Google Authenticator plugin, users can access 2FA via an email OTP, SMS, QR code, soft key, shortcode for custom login pages, push notifications, and device identification. This helps avoid repeated login attempts.

Wordfence

Wordfence is a popular WordPress malware removal plugin. This WordPress security plugin has many different features, including the ability to set up 2FA.

WordFence works with a couple of different TOTP-based apps, such as Google Authenticator, Authy, and FreeOTP.

Just scan the QR code with your authenticator app and activate 2FA in Wordfence by entering the code.

Wordfence is not solely a 2FA plugin. But, if you’re already using it as a WordPress security plugin, activating two-factor authentication is easy.

Duo

Duo Two-Factor Authentication is a simple plugin for any WordPress website. It’s really quick to set up and it allows you to log in to your WordPress website without the need for a password.

It’s easy to use but still advanced enough to provide strong security measures. The plugin won’t let any unwanted visitors through.

The Duo Two-Factor Authentication plugin also supports multiple authentication options, such as phone calls, SMS, and hardware keys.

Authy

Authy is another very simple 2FA plugin. This plugin is offered by Twilio.

Users need to register an account on authy.com and create an application so that they can access the Authy API. Once you have the application set up, you can enter the API key on the plugin page and get started.

Authy allows you to choose the different roles you want to set the two-step verification for. Then authentication requests can be received by SMS, phone call, push notification, or generating a token through the Authy app.

Shield WordPress Security

The Shield WordPress security plugin is easy-to-use but effective at keeping your access secure. You can use the plugin to choose between two authentication options. These are email and YubiKey. Email authentication requires two separate methods (cookies or IP address) to offer total security.

Limit The Number of User Accounts that have Admin Access

We already mentioned the importance of access management when it comes to the security of your WordPress installation. The different user accounts that can access your site need to be carefully controlled if you want to maintain a secure WordPress website.

By limiting the number of accounts with full administrator access, you’ll have a lot more control over your site and who can make changes to it. With fewer administrators, there is stricter control over the WordPress core functions, plugins, and theme version.

This makes your WordPress website secure and easier to manage.

Login Monitoring and Lockdown

In the first pillar of WordPress security, you’ll be able to secure access to directories, plugins, and WordPress themefiles. This is important, but it still might not stop attackers entirely. This is why you should always monitor your WordPress website and adhere to these WordPress security tips.

Various WordPress plugins are available to monitor your site on a regular basis. Many of these tools offer additional security features to keep your site safe if a bot or hacker manages to get through the web server firewalls.

These WordPress plugins let website owners monitor and set preferences to strengthen your WordPress installation. This is achieved by hiding or protecting files that are commonly attacked, such as plugins, themes, the wp-config PHP file, WordPress code, and WordPress version.

Most plugins designed for security allow you to monitor automated crawlers and website visitors and block access to any visitors that show suspicious activity.

Here are a few good third-party plugins that you can use for website monitoring after you install WordPress:

Sucuri Security

The Sucuri Security plugin is available in a free and paid version. Most WordPress sites can get all the security they need with the free version.

The free version includes security activity auditing to help you monitor how effective the plugin is at protecting your WordPress site.

The plugin includes blacklist monitoring, file integrity monitoring, security hardening, and security notifications. The paid version has additional features, like a website firewall and more frequent scans.

Sucuri is really easy to set up. It automatically scans, audits, and monitors your website to keep track of everything that’s happening on it. Once you’ve configured the plugin, it runs automatically and sends security reports straight to your inbox.

WP fail2ban

WP fail2ban is a relatively simple security plugin because it only offers one important feature: protection against brute force attacks. However, this feature is a lot more effective than what many other plugins offer.

The plugin monitors and documents every login attempt to the system. You can then implement a soft or hard ban based on these attempts. It’s a simple security plugin to configure and use, but it’s very effective.

iThemes Security

iThemes is one of the most impressive WordPress security plugins. It boasts over 30 ways to protect your website from hacks. This plugin helps you recognize vulnerabilities, obsolete software, and weak passwords in your website.

iThemes Security Pro doesn’t offer a web application firewall or its own malware scanner, but it does make use of Sucuri’s free malware scanner.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive WordPress security plugin that can also accommodate 2FA, then iThemes security is a great choice for most websites, no matter which version of WordPress you’re running.

All In One WP Security and Firewall

All In One WP Security and Firewall is one of the most comprehensive free plugins for WordPress security. This feature-rich plugin has an easy interface to navigate with many graphs and easily-explained metrics. It will give any WordPress website owner a very clear understanding of their site’s security status.

The plugin breaks down its features into basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. This means the plugin is a good choice for all levels of developers.

The plugin protects your user accounts and blocks brute force login attempts. It also offers database and file security and improves user registration security.

Moreover, it’s free without any upsells or premium features.

Jetpack Security

Jetpack is one of the most popular security plugins for WordPress users. This is because the plugin has loads of great security features and because it’s developed by the team from WordPress.

Beyond regular WordPress security, Jetpack can help you improve security across social media, as well as strengthen spam protection and site speed. It’s one of the most advanced security plugins with regard to how many tools it offers.

Jetpack’s free module blocks suspicious activity on your site, offers brute force attack protection and whitelisting. The paid versions have additional features, like malware scanning, scheduled website backups, and restoration. The most advanced version of Jetpack security offers real-time backups for complete website protection.

Hide Your WordPress Version

You don’t want people to know about your WordPress site configuration. The fewer people who know about things like your WordPress version, the less vulnerable your site will be to attacks.

Hackers might see that you’re running an outdated version, which would welcome them to attack your site. So, by hiding your site’s version and configuration, you’ll add an extra layer of security against preventing hacks.

Your WordPress version is displayed in the header of your site’s source code. You can hide this by adding the following code to your WordPress theme’s function.php file:

function wp_version_remove_version() {
return ' ';
}
add_filter('the_generator', 'wp_version_remove_version');

But be careful when doing this. Altering your site’s source code could break your website if you don’t do it properly. Always run this past a developer first if you aren’t comfortable doing it yourself and take all the appropriate controls.

Plugins are also available to hide your version of WordPress. With a plugin like Perfmatters, you can effortlessly hide your WordPress version while also being able to perform other optimizations on your site.

Your WordPress version will also be visible in the default readme.html file that comes with every WordPress install. This is found at the foot of your version, domain.com/readme.html. You can just delete this file via FTP with no risk.

Pillar #3: User-Level Security

Beyond all the plugins and security tools available, WordPress users need to be careful about how they manage security from their end. Even with the best website firewall, updated themes and plugins your site is only as strong as the people using it.

There are two essential user-level security practices to follow.

Use Strong Passwords and Usernames

While there are many different WordPress security issues that users need to be aware of, your password and username is the thing you are in control of the most.

You might have all the best security measures in place for your site, but if your password is weak, all of your efforts could be pointless. A weak password is an invitation for hackers to access your site. There’s simply no excuse for having a weak password in place. If you’re worried about remembering a 32-bit password, download a password manager to remember for you. Google Chrome also offers some browser extensions that can help keep track of passwords for you.

Brute force attacks generally cover a list of common usernames and passwords until access to your site is gained. So, the first thing you should do after installing WordPress is to create a new user account with a unique username. Avoid common names like admin or your first name.

Then create a password that is as random as possible. Use special characters with alphanumeric characters in uppercase and lowercase to create a strong password. There are loads of password generators online to help you create a powerful password.

Your passwords should also be unique across your different accounts online. Otherwise, you will just open up the risk to a widespread attack if someone hacks you.

The best strategy is to use a password management platform to easily manage your different passwords across different websites. This also allows you to use complex, random passwords that you won’t forget.

Disable File Editing in WordPress Dashboard

Many WordPress sites have numerous contributors, users, and administrators. We’ve already covered the importance of restricting administrator access, but there are still many cases where the wrong person manages to get their hands on administrator access.

A good trick is to disable the Appearance Editor in WordPress to secure your site against this. Instead of just going into the Appearance Editor and being greeted with a white screen, a better approach is to edit files locally and upload them via FTP.

And if your website is hacked, attackers will quickly go to your Appearance Editor to insert malicious code. Removing access to this from the dashboard can help prevent these attacks.

To remove the edit_themes, edit_plugins, and edit_files capabilities of all the users on your WordPress site, go to wp-config.php and add this code:

define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);

Pillar #4: Website Maintenance

The final step to WordPress security is maintaining your site properly. Here are two essential practices to follow to keep your WordPress site secure.

Keep Everything Up To Date (Plugins, Themes, WordPress Core)

Outdated plugins, themes, and WordPress core can be catastrophic for your site. Hackers can access these outdated elements far more easily as the security vulnerabilities are much wider known.

This is because the WordPress security team generally releases updates that address any issues that arise with these features. Releasing this information can reveal security issues to the public. As a result, hackers and scammers can access this information.

Simply keeping each of these elements updated to the latest version can make a major difference to your WordPress security. With a managed hosting provider, you’ll be able to access automatic core updates.

An up-to-date WordPress site works at its full potential and makes sure that security issues are minimized — if not eliminated.

Regularly Audit WordPress Plugins & Themes

Keeping your plugins and themes up to date is critical for a secure site that performs well. While managed WordPress hosts will update your core, they won’t update plugins and themes. To stay on top of this, you should schedule monthly or quarterly updates as a standard practice.

Many custom WordPress websites can be damaged by automatic plugin updates, which can override customizations in the site. Setting up regular plugin and theme audits and updates will help you overcome this risk for a site that offers greater performance.

Bring It All Together With These WordPress Security Tips

There are many different ways that you can harden your WordPress installation. This is something that no website owner should overlook unless they want to risk all kinds of unwanted cyber-attacks.

Choosing a securely managed web host, maintaining strong passwords, and keeping your core and plugins updated are only a few of the things you can do to protect your site. The more security vulnerabilities you protect your website against, the better.

Implement the best practices above and get them in place before it’s too late. The sooner you start to take WordPress security seriously, the better!