Protecting your website is essential to safeguard yourself, your company’s information, and your customers from the perils of cybercrime, and to prevent being blacklisted by Google.
Fortunately, WordPress users can benefit from a variety of features and plugins that can help secure their websites swiftly and effortlessly. Here’s a 9-step checklist to ensure your WordPress site is secure and to avoid any potential blacklisting or hacking incidents.
Why Is WordPress site security so important?
Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities they can exploit, and an unprotected website makes their job a lot easier. If your business’s website is attacked, it can severely damage your reputation, erode customer trust, and potentially reduce your profits.
Here are a few potential consequences of an unsecured website:
- Website downtime or inaccessibility: A cyberattack can take your website offline or make it inaccessible for a long time, disrupting your customers’ experience and leading to missed opportunities and lost sales.
- Data breach and identity theft: Hackers may gain access to sensitive customer information, including passwords and financial details. With this information, they can commit fraud, causing distress to your clients and permanently damaging your credibility.
- Phishing attacks: Your hosting account could be used to send phishing emails. This can result in your domain being flagged as spam, harming your brand and any future marketing efforts.
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Search engine blacklisting: Google blacklists thousands of websites daily due to security issues. If your website falls victim to this, your previous rankings and search traffic could take months to recover.
9 steps to check your WordPress site security
Protecting your website from cyberattacks is crucial for safeguarding your business, employees, and customers. These attacks can have serious repercussions, including loss of customer trust, financial losses, and even legal issues. As cybercrime continues to rise, taking proactive measures to enhance your website’s security is more essential than ever.
Here are nine practical steps you can implement to strengthen your WordPress site’s security:
1. Create powerful passwords
Most cyber attacks succeed because weak passwords allow hackers to gain access to a website’s backend or a WordPress dashboard.
These attacks often occur because passwords are too easy to guess. Check all your passwords, both for work and personal use, to make sure they are strong enough. Avoid using common words and instead include numbers and special characters. Browsers like Google Chrome can generate strong passwords for you to save time.
Always keep your passwords safe and protect them with a strong password. It’s also crucial to establish password procedures to guarantee that employees are doing their part to secure sensitive data.
2. Shield against brute force attacks
Brute force attacks occur when hackers try to guess or crack login details to get into your website or network. They use special software that can generate millions of login combinations to force their way in.
If a brute force attack succeeds, it can lead to data breaches, the spread of malware across your network and the devices of your website visitors, and make your website unavailable for a while.
In addition to using strong passwords, you can also use the WordPress Brute Force Protection plugin to restrict login attempts from unfamiliar devices.
3. Protect your website with an SSL certificate
An SSL certificate scrambles your website’s information, keeping it safe and private for your visitors. Not only do SSLs make your visitors feel secure, but they also improve your site’s SEO. Search engines like Google value websites that use basic security measures when ranking them.
4. Regularly check for malware
Hackers can cause serious harm to your business by putting malware on your website. Sometimes, this damage cannot be undone. Malware can give cybercriminals access to sensitive information and infect website visitors, causing a widespread chain reaction.
Wordfence Security is one plugin that can assist in safeguarding your website from malware attacks.
5. Update regularly
Not updating your WordPress version, installed plugins, or any themes can open a door for hackers. Updates include new features and WordPress security improvements, whereas previous versions rapidly become unsupported, creating a vulnerability that can be exploited.
6. Shield your website’s database
Your website’s database is a treasure goldmine of valuable information, making it a prime target for cybercriminals. Hackers may employ SQL injection attacks, which involve injecting malicious SQL code into the database, to gain unauthorized access.
To combat these threats, ensure your website’s software is always up-to-date, as outdated software can leave it vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. Additionally, install a reliable firewall plugin for extra protection.
For an enhanced level of security, consider investing in a high-quality VPN service. VPNs provide advanced data encryption and protection, reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access to your website or network.
7. Create local and remote backups
A good backup plan can protect your business from the damage of a cyberattack. This is why you should keep your daily backups both on your own computer and on a remote server, to double your chances of getting your data back.
For a quick and easy way to back up your data remotely, you may want to consider using a dedicated server that is stored in a different location, or a cloud storage solution.
8. Get real-time monitoring
Real-time monitoring tools constantly check your website for problems like downtime, hacking attempts, and sudden increases in traffic. This gives website owners a constant view of the health of their websites, and allows them to fix any problems as they happen.
9. Block IP addresses
A good way to make it harder for hackers to attack your website is to block IP addresses from certain countries. Plugins like IP Location Block have a number of features, like zero-day exploit prevention that tracks patterns of vulnerability, to make your WordPress website less open to attacks.
Safeguard Your WordPress Website
The importance of website security cannot be emphasized enough. A cyberattack can have devastating consequences for your business, potentially causing irreparable damage or even bringing it to its knees. Additionally, a breach can have dire repercussions for your customers as well.
Fortunately, safeguarding your website doesn’t have to be overly complex. With the help of smart WordPress plugins, sensible practices, and advanced security measures like SSL certificates and VPNs, you can effectively protect your website and its valuable data.