WordPress Security Tips Updated 2022
Keep your WordPress website secure with these updated security tips for 2022. From strengthening passwords to protecting against malware, these best practices will help protect your site and keep your data safe.
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We have seen many website owners worried about the security of WordPress. Whatever you see in the security tips online, most of them are outdated and we have worked on the latest tips to secure your WordPress website.
As we know WordPress is one of the most popular and widely used content management systems available these days among website users. With the increased usage of this CMS, the reliability and the security of WordPress have become more hardened over time.
There are many security standards WordPress users deploy to prevent and protect a WordPress-based website from hackers. At HostingSewa we have a team of security experts and they have collected some important data and information to present you WordPress users with the most reliable and best tips to improve the security and protection of your WordPress website and by using these tips they can prevent their WordPress hosting from being hacked by hackers.
1. Avoid Using “Admin” As Your Administrator Username of WordPress
These days everyone knows, including hackers and normal website users that admin is the most used username. You should not make the life of hackers so easier. Once you create a WordPress website for you, it is highly recommended to choose a different username for it and try to start with capital letters. Once you create the user for your WordPress give all rights to that user and delete the old user from your account.
2. Choose a Strong Password
This security tip may sound really basic to website owners, but in actuality, many people are still using passwords for their accounts such as 12345, admin123 or qwerty etc. By using this kind of password for your WordPress website, you are inviting hackers to hack your website. So it is highly recommended to choose a highly complicated password that has a mixture of numbers, symbols, and upper & lower characters and try to make it at least 15 characters long.
3. Get Plugins From Trusted Resources
WordPress has a huge library of plugins and Wordpress users can perform almost every task using these plugins. WordPress plugins can be considered as treasures for website owners and everyone who wants to use them. At present WordPress has more than 50000 plugins. As a WordPress website owner, you should be aware that a plugin to download and install on your website might sometime harm it.
In order to prevent it, you should always download plugins from trusted resources and always check for comments or user reviews and also check if support exists or not.
DO NOT INSTALL A WORDPRESS PLUGIN IF YOU DON'T NEED THEM. Generally, everyone (website admin) is tempted to try and install all the available plugins from WordPress. Plugins are the root cause of many security issues in WordPress. INSTALL ONLY THE REQUIRED PLUGINS. Installing more plugins will lead to the website loading slowly.
4. Keep Your WordPress Platform Updated
The team of security experts at WordPress takes security-related tasks quite seriously. WordPress experts take care of your websites with every possible patch and update. Each and every new update boost your website security fixes the bugs (if any) and increases the website performance. So it is always recommended to keep your WordPress updated with the latest environment.
5. Disable The WordPress Plugin and Editor
The in-built tool available inside the WordPress dashboard, known as plugin and theme editor is one of the wonderful tools, although if you are not using it then it is better to disable it due to security reasons. In case any hacker hacks your website, they can easily destroy your whole website by changing its code of it.
You can easily disable or remove the plugin and theme editor by inserting one single line code:
define( ‘DISALLOW _FILE_EDIT’, true); to wp-config.php and .hta
6. Create Regular Backups
It is always recommended to create backups of your website on regular basis and you should not depend upon someone else including your WordPress website hosting provider to take backup of your website. You can take a backup manually or you can use some plugins to do it.
7. FireWall Plugins
You can secure your WordPress website using Firewall plugins and there are some good plugins available in the WordPress library. For example “All In One WP Security & Firewall” plugin. This plugin will take your website security and protection to completely new heights. This plugin minimizes security-related uncertainty by looking for suspicious activities and by deploying and executing the newest recommended WordPress security techniques.
8. Cleanup Your WordPress Installation
Make sure that you delete unused and non-functioning versions of WordPress from your server. Any type of unused WordPress themes, plugins, widgets or any other files whether they are not in use or not in active mode should be deleted from your server. You should keep one simple rule in mind “Delete Delete and Delete” all the unwanted and unused installations.
9. Change WordPress Table Prefix
In WordPress, the default table prefix is wp_ and these days everyone including hackers is also aware of that. SQL injection attacks can be easily performed with the default table prefix because it is easier to identify it. Changing the WordPress table prefix is highly recommended to prevent SQL injection attacks. You can do this by using any WP security plugin for example SSH SFTP Updater Support plugin.
10. Delete Inactive User Accounts
Inactive or unused user accounts in your WordPress can be a security threat to your WordPress-based website. The only thing you need to do is remove all the inactive or unused accounts from WordPress.
Steps you need to follow to do this:
Login to your WordPress dashboard
Hit ‘Users’
You will be redirected to the page where all users will be listed
Remove the one which is inactive or unused.
11. Secure WordPress Updates/Upgrades with SSH2 (SFTP)
SSH2, also Secure File Transfer Protocol, or SFTP-based connections are much more secure than normal FTP connections to upgrade and update your WordPress. The shell-based technique is highly secure because it encrypts all the data transfer. You can make use of the “SSH SFTP Updater Support” plugin available in the WordPress plugins directory and it uses phpseclib. Additionally, it is one of the best options to make use of SSH (Secure Shell), SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol), RSA and X.509 in PHP.
12. Protect You wp-config.php File
One of the most important files available on your server is wp-config.php and it is available in the root directory of your website. Wp-config.php usually contains information about your WordPress website. Protecting the wp-config.php file means you actually secure the core part of your website because once you secure it, it becomes harder for hackers to break and steal the information from your website because it becomes unreachable to that kind of hackers. As a user of a WordPress site you can secure your wp-config.php by putting the following code in it:
A user can secure wp-config.php by simply placing the below-mentioned code in the root directory.
# protect wp-config.php
13. Use SSL Certificate
Having an SSL certificate installed on your website is another excellent option for WordPress users to protect the website's admin panel. Having SSL certificate installed on your website makes it more complicated for hackers and security stealers to cheat and steal your sensitive information and it also helps to gain better rank in Google search.
SSL is a must for every website these days because recently Google has officially announced that it will use HTTPS as a ranking signal, so if your website is having SSL it will be awarded top rankings in Google search results. Having SSL security implemented on your website allows you to log in securely through HTTPS. You can get an SSL certificate free of cost from us.
14. Protect .htaccess file
The main use of .htaccess file is to specify the WordPress security controls for a specific directory of files. In order to protect your WordPress website or blog from hackers, all you have to do is put the following code in the .htaccess files of your registered domain.
# STRONG HTACCESS PROTECTION
order allow,deny
deny from all
satisfy all
15. Hide WordPress Version of Your Website
The number of the WordPress version of your website is available in its source code of it and it can be easily targeted by hackers. If any hacker finds the version number of your site they can easily create a perfect attack technique to hack it. To prevent this you can use the “Remove Version” plugin of WordPress. This plugin removes the version number of your site from everywhere it is required like Meta, Javascript, RSS and CSS in order to protect your website.
16. Avoid Script Injection
As a WordPress user, you can easily protect your website from script injection. All you have to do is place the following code into your .htaccess file.
# protect from sql injection
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C).*script.*(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]
The above code will secure your website from undesirable changes of _REQUEST and/or GLOBALS.
17. Block Failed WordPress Login Attempts
Blocking the number of failed login tries mainly intercepts the website users from utilizing the brute force methods on a website based on WordPress. A brute force attack is an effort to get the website's password by implementing each and every possible way. In order to block failed login attempts and complement extra security on your website you can implement two-factor authentication as well as HTTP authentication.
18. Modify Default WordPress User Login/Password
As a user of WordPress, the best thing to reduce the risks of login attempts by hackers is to modify or delete the default admin account or change the username and password of your account and also you can create new account with tough username and password. Try to make your password as difficult as possible.
19. Avoid Indexing of Admin Section from Search Engine Spiders
Search engines like Google, mainly crawl all the pages of your website and index all the contents placed on those pages unless they are not informed not to do that. Keep in mind that as a website owner you should not allow indexing of your admin area and other sensitive parts of your website. One of the ideal ways to stop crawlers from indexing the admin part of your website is by creating a robot.txt file and placing the following code in it:
#
User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin
Disallow: /wp-admin
Disallow: /wp-includes
Disallow: /wp-content/plugins/
Disallow: /wp-content/cache/
Disallow: /wp-content/themes/
Disallow: */trackback/
Disallow: */feed/
Disallow: /*/feed/rss/$
You can put whatever you want to avoid from block inside the robot.txt file by following Disallow:*/file name/
These are a few of the most important tips you can use to secure your WordPress website.
If you need more help, feel free to contact our WordPress experts via live chat, email, phone today.
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We have seen many website owners worried about the security of WordPress. Whatever you see in the security tips online, most of them are outdated and we have worked on the latest tips to secure your WordPress website.
As we know WordPress is one of the most popular and widely used content management systems available these days among website users. With the increased usage of this CMS, the reliability and the security of WordPress have become more hardened over time.
There are many security standards WordPress users deploy to prevent and protect a WordPress-based website from hackers. At HostingSewa we have a team of security experts and they have collected some important data and information to present you WordPress users with the most reliable and best tips to improve the security and protection of your WordPress website and by using these tips they can prevent their WordPress hosting from being hacked by hackers.
1. Avoid Using “Admin” As Your Administrator Username of WordPress
These days everyone knows, including hackers and normal website users that admin is the most used username. You should not make the life of hackers so easier. Once you create a WordPress website for you, it is highly recommended to choose a different username for it and try to start with capital letters. Once you create the user for your WordPress give all rights to that user and delete the old user from your account.
2. Choose a Strong Password
This security tip may sound really basic to website owners, but in actuality, many people are still using passwords for their accounts such as 12345, admin123 or qwerty etc. By using this kind of password for your WordPress website, you are inviting hackers to hack your website. So it is highly recommended to choose a highly complicated password that has a mixture of numbers, symbols, and upper & lower characters and try to make it at least 15 characters long.
3. Get Plugins From Trusted Resources
WordPress has a huge library of plugins and Wordpress users can perform almost every task using these plugins. WordPress plugins can be considered as treasures for website owners and everyone who wants to use them. At present WordPress has more than 50000 plugins. As a WordPress website owner, you should be aware that a plugin to download and install on your website might sometime harm it.
In order to prevent it, you should always download plugins from trusted resources and always check for comments or user reviews and also check if support exists or not.
DO NOT INSTALL A WORDPRESS PLUGIN IF YOU DON'T NEED THEM. Generally, everyone (website admin) is tempted to try and install all the available plugins from WordPress. Plugins are the root cause of many security issues in WordPress. INSTALL ONLY THE REQUIRED PLUGINS. Installing more plugins will lead to the website loading slowly.
4. Keep Your WordPress Platform Updated
The team of security experts at WordPress takes security-related tasks quite seriously. WordPress experts take care of your websites with every possible patch and update. Each and every new update boost your website security fixes the bugs (if any) and increases the website performance. So it is always recommended to keep your WordPress updated with the latest environment.
5. Disable The WordPress Plugin and Editor
The in-built tool available inside the WordPress dashboard, known as plugin and theme editor is one of the wonderful tools, although if you are not using it then it is better to disable it due to security reasons. In case any hacker hacks your website, they can easily destroy your whole website by changing its code of it.
You can easily disable or remove the plugin and theme editor by inserting one single line code:
define( ‘DISALLOW _FILE_EDIT’, true); to wp-config.php and .hta
6. Create Regular Backups
It is always recommended to create backups of your website on regular basis and you should not depend upon someone else including your WordPress website hosting provider to take backup of your website. You can take a backup manually or you can use some plugins to do it.
7. FireWall Plugins
You can secure your WordPress website using Firewall plugins and there are some good plugins available in the WordPress library. For example “All In One WP Security & Firewall” plugin. This plugin will take your website security and protection to completely new heights. This plugin minimizes security-related uncertainty by looking for suspicious activities and by deploying and executing the newest recommended WordPress security techniques.
8. Cleanup Your WordPress Installation
Make sure that you delete unused and non-functioning versions of WordPress from your server. Any type of unused WordPress themes, plugins, widgets or any other files whether they are not in use or not in active mode should be deleted from your server. You should keep one simple rule in mind “Delete Delete and Delete” all the unwanted and unused installations.
9. Change WordPress Table Prefix
In WordPress, the default table prefix is wp_ and these days everyone including hackers is also aware of that. SQL injection attacks can be easily performed with the default table prefix because it is easier to identify it. Changing the WordPress table prefix is highly recommended to prevent SQL injection attacks. You can do this by using any WP security plugin for example SSH SFTP Updater Support plugin.
10. Delete Inactive User Accounts
Inactive or unused user accounts in your WordPress can be a security threat to your WordPress-based website. The only thing you need to do is remove all the inactive or unused accounts from WordPress.
Steps you need to follow to do this:
Login to your WordPress dashboard
Hit ‘Users’
You will be redirected to the page where all users will be listed
Remove the one which is inactive or unused.
11. Secure WordPress Updates/Upgrades with SSH2 (SFTP)
SSH2, also Secure File Transfer Protocol, or SFTP-based connections are much more secure than normal FTP connections to upgrade and update your WordPress. The shell-based technique is highly secure because it encrypts all the data transfer. You can make use of the “SSH SFTP Updater Support” plugin available in the WordPress plugins directory and it uses phpseclib. Additionally, it is one of the best options to make use of SSH (Secure Shell), SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol), RSA and X.509 in PHP.
12. Protect You wp-config.php File
One of the most important files available on your server is wp-config.php and it is available in the root directory of your website. Wp-config.php usually contains information about your WordPress website. Protecting the wp-config.php file means you actually secure the core part of your website because once you secure it, it becomes harder for hackers to break and steal the information from your website because it becomes unreachable to that kind of hackers. As a user of a WordPress site you can secure your wp-config.php by putting the following code in it:
A user can secure wp-config.php by simply placing the below-mentioned code in the root directory.
SSL is a must for every website these days because recently Google has officially announced that it will use HTTPS as a ranking signal, so if your website is having SSL it will be awarded top rankings in Google search results. Having SSL security implemented on your website allows you to log in securely through HTTPS. You can get an SSL certificate free of cost from us.
14. Protect .htaccess file
The main use of .htaccess file is to specify the WordPress security controls for a specific directory of files. In order to protect your WordPress website or blog from hackers, all you have to do is put the following code in the .htaccess files of your registered domain.
# STRONG HTACCESS PROTECTION
18. Modify Default WordPress User Login/Password
As a user of WordPress, the best thing to reduce the risks of login attempts by hackers is to modify or delete the default admin account or change the username and password of your account and also you can create new account with tough username and password. Try to make your password as difficult as possible.
19. Avoid Indexing of Admin Section from Search Engine Spiders
Search engines like Google, mainly crawl all the pages of your website and index all the contents placed on those pages unless they are not informed not to do that. Keep in mind that as a website owner you should not allow indexing of your admin area and other sensitive parts of your website. One of the ideal ways to stop crawlers from indexing the admin part of your website is by creating a robot.txt file and placing the following code in it:
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