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How safe is your WordPress site? With the rise in the number of cyber attacks, how secure is the information of your customers and visitors?

Hackers are making significant efforts; you, in turn, must make substantial efforts to secure your website.

By reading this article, learn the importance of security and the steps you can take to safeguard your WordPress site and converting a website to wordpress.

The Importance of WordPress Security

Over 86 billion password assault attempts were stopped in the first half of 2021, and roughly 30,000 new websites are predicted to be compromised daily.

Hackers and viruses are persistent in their attacks to acquire private information hosted on websites.

In what way?

The present volume of cyber attacks is unprecedented.

Your company isn’t the only one of any size that this problem impacts.

Small firms are the target of 43% of cyberattacks nowadays, yet only 14% have any defence in place.

Hackers often go for major businesses because the rewards tend to be more.

However, due to a lack of finances and security knowledge, hackers find small and medium-sized organisations an easier target.

Fortunately, you may take several measures to safeguard your WordPress site.

Get Started With These Simple Safety Steps

You can take some fundamental steps when converting a website to wordpress that will significantly increase the site’s security.

To begin securing your website, you should do the following.

Verify That WordPress Is Up-To-Date

If you’re still using an out-of-date version of WordPress, you could leave your site open to a wide range of cyber dangers. The good news is that updating the core of your WordPress installation is a breeze.

You may simplify your life by switching on automatic updates. Why not make use of the WordPress option to have it automatically update to security and bugfix patches? If you do, your site will automatically update to the newest minor version, including any security patches or bug fixes. Automatic updates save time, but you should still manually check for them occasionally. Only then can you know that no significant fixes that could weaken the security of your site have been overlooked.

Also, make sure your WordPress plugins and themes are up-to-date by checking for them in the dashboard’s “Plugins” and “Themes” sections regularly.

Automated reminders can be helpful if you’re having trouble remembering things, but you shouldn’t rely on them exclusively.

Use Robust User Authentication Always

Protect private data from prying eyes by requiring strong user authentication procedures. Double-check a few things before proceeding.

First, you should employ and advocate for using robust passwords among your audience. A password must be 12 characters long and contain a mix of upper- and lowercase letters, digits, and symbols. There are many helpful password-strength testing tools available on the internet.

Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) to further tighten security by forcing users to present at least two different pieces of identification before gaining access to their accounts.

Also, regularly audit your user accounts to weed out any that are no longer in use. The goal is to restrict access to your WordPress site to only those needing it, reducing the attack surface.

Never Log In As “Admin”

The widespread use of the username “admin” makes it simple for fraudsters to deceive users into revealing their passwords.

Do not log in as “admin” ever.

Doing so leaves you open to social engineering fraud and brute force attacks.

Having a distinct username for each login is preferable to using the same one across several platforms since it makes it more challenging for hackers to guess your credentials.

Replace the “admin” username if you’re logged in as the default administrator in WordPress.

Hide the WordPress Admin Login Page

Adding “/wp-admin” or “/wp-login.php” to the end of a URL usually takes you to the WordPress administration panel.

Because of this, hackers will likely immediately begin trying to penetrate your website.

An attacker can try to enter your Admin Dashboard by guessing your username and password after they have located your login page.

You can make yourself less of a target by hiding your WordPress login page.

Hide the WordPress administration login page with a plugin  to prevent unauthorised access to your account.

Verify the Safety of Your Theme and Plugins

Ensure you download your themes and plugins from reliable locations like the WordPress repository or a respected third-party marketplace. You may find ratings and reviews written by actual customers there, so check them out. Updating the WordPress core is essential, but updating your themes and plugins is just as crucial for site security.

Using plugins or services that scan your themes and plugins for security flaws. These tools can diagnose issues and offer guidance on mitigating risks for converting a website to wordpress.

Even if plugins increase your site’s capabilities, installing too many at once can make it more susceptible to attacks. Before installing any of them, please know the hazards of using plugins and themes from unknown sources.

Maintain a Safe Web Host

Choosing the right web host can boost your site’s security, while selecting the wrong one can compromise it. Look for these security solutions every web host should offer before signing up. They should have strict security measures to prevent hackers, malware, and other security dangers from entering their systems. Watch for firewalls, intrusion detection systems, strong access controls, and frequent software updates.

A competent host regularly backs up your site’s files.

Choose a server that offers SSL certificates, making them affordable, accessible, and manageable. Look for service providers with solid uptime records—a secure site is useless if it goes down often. There are accessibility and velocity performance tests you may use to verify this on your own. Some add-ons provide this feature as well.

Conduct Frequent Security Checks and Audits

Maintaining a secure WordPress site requires routine security testing and audits. To evaluate the safety of your website, you can utilise such methods and resources as:

• If your SSL certificate was installed correctly, you may verify this with an SSL checker.
• Many tools can verify the presence of these headers and provide recommendations for further enhancement.
• You may learn much about your site’s performance and security with Pingdom, usually used for speed testing.
• Many tools’ vulnerability scanners can help you determine whether or not out-of-date plugins, themes, or core files have compromised your site’s security.
• Manual security audits involve carefully examining your website’s source code, configuration files, and database. Check for outdated or questionable features that hackers could use as entry points.

Add Protective Plugins

Using security plugins is a sensible choice when protecting your WordPress site. Malware scanning, firewall protection, login security, and more are just some of the functions offered by the many available comprehensive security plugins. Visit the WordPress plugin repository and use the installation procedure to get them up and running.

Set up a Firewall and Conduct Malware Scanning on Your Website

A firewall protects by acting as a barrier, analysing incoming data for dangerous requests and blocking them. One of the cloud-based firewall services or a plugin offering this feature can be used to set up a site firewall.

In addition to installing a firewall, it is recommended that you run malware scans on your site regularly to identify and eliminate any dangerous code or infected files. After running a malware scan, examine the results thoroughly. When problems are found, malware should be removed or quarantined immediately.

Maintain frequent backups and contingency plans

A good backup solution, whether automated or manual, is essential for wordpress website conversion.

You can tailor your site’s regular backup schedule to the frequency of updates and content modifications. In a disaster, you can be assured that your backups will be up to date and easily restored. Testing your backup restoration process often ensures you can restore your site if needed.

Create a disaster recovery plan in case of a data breach, loss of data, or site compromise, in addition to backups.

Constant Supervision and Warnings for Safety

24/7 monitoring and security warnings are sensible ways to secure your WordPress site. You can swiftly identify and address incidents with this proactive method.

Implement a site monitoring solution to monitor anomalous behaviours, intrusion attempts, and file alterations in real-time.

Set up your monitoring systems to alert you instantly to security incidents. You’ll receive timely alerts about vulnerabilities or questionable activity by email, SMS, or push notifications.

Server logs can disclose suspicious or odd activity, so check those.

Conclusion

Website vulnerabilities can pose major hazards. A wordpress website conversion may be safeguarded without code knowledge with the right tools and hosting plan. Instead of fixing security concerns after they happen, protect your website beforehand. If your website is hacked, you may rapidly restore it from a backup and continue business. You can now obtain isolated WordPress hosting with free SSL, a dedicated IP address, daily backups, automated WordPress upgrades, DDoS protection, and a WAF.