How to Protect Your WordPress Website: 12 Crucial Security Tips for Businesses

If you’re operating a business with a WordPress site, cyber safety should be a primary concern in your head. WordPress is now used on about 40 percent of the web, which means it’s a massive bullseye for hackers. I know keeping safe online can feel daunting but don’t worry, I’m here to break it down for you. In this post, I’ll cover simple cybersecurity tips for WordPress that any business owner can start to implement. Let’s dive in!

Why Your WordPress Website Needs Cyber-Security

The Big Deal With Cybersecurity for WordPress Users

First of all, let’s briefly discuss the implications behind cybersecurity for these kind of users who use WordPress.

• Infected sites are WordPress sites, and attackers’ common targets.
• Hackers are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities to steal data, deface websites or install malware.
• There’s lost customer trust and lost downtime for business.
• Patching security vulnerabilities after an attack is expensive and time-consuming.

So, protecting your WordPress site isn’t just about standing up for your business, but for your customers as well.

Test Your WordPress Themes and Plugins

One of the single largest risks comes from third-party code. Themes and plugins enhance the functionality of your website, but they can also provide a route into your site for hackers if poorly coded or outdated.

Here’s what you can do:

• Only use themes and plugins from reputable sources such as the official WordPress repository, or well-known vendors.
• Make sure to see the user ratings and read reviews before downloading anything.
• Keep everything up to date – developers issue patches that close vulnerability holes.
• Deactivate plugins and themes you aren’t using.
• Use a plugin which regularly checks your themes and plugins for security problems.

Simple tips like these reduce your risk by a great deal.

Strengthen Your User Accounts

Weak or stolen passwords continue to be one of the most frequent vectors used by attackers to break into websites. It’s your Admin and User Account control how you want it!

Make sure you:

• Use strong passwords that include letters, numbers and symbols.
• Do not use a default username, such as “admin.”
• Force two-factor authentication for all of your users who can access your dashboard.
• Restrict login attempts to prevent bruteforcing.
• You must remove account’s no longer in use or at least restrict access to them.

Let’s hang out here to keep your site airtight.

6.7 Lock Down Your WordPress Login Page

The login page is undoubtedly the best-served page when it comes to brute attacks. Hardening this so called entry point is of paramount importance.

Try these:

• Customize your login URL so people won’t find it easily.
• Use captcha or something like it as a barrier against bots.
• Implement IP whitelisting where possible – permit only the IPs on which one trust to access the login.
• Ensure your login page is under HTTPS with a proper SSL certificate.

Little changes can yield big impact.

Ensure That Your WordPress Software Is Updated

Many security problems are associated with using out-of-date software. The WordPress core is subjected to regular updates – most commonly to fix security issues.

Your update checklist:

• Make sure you upgrade to the most recent version of WordPress whenever it is released.
• Keep your plugins and themes updated.
• If you don’t like all that updating, hit automatic updates.
• Back up your site before updating so you have something to push back if you get a blank page of death.

Being current also means you’re on guard against threats that are already known.

Implement Regular Backups

Even the best protection can fail. Backups are your safety net – they help you get back on track fast after an attack or site damage.

Your contingency plan ought to incorporate:

• Daily or, at the very least, weekly offsite backups.
• Contain your database and all website data.
• Periodically test restoring backup to ensure they work.
• If you would prefer paying (honest) developers to update your install, do so using reputable plugins specifically developed for WordPress.

Rest easy and focus on growing your business with the peace of mind that your system will not become lost due to system crashes.

Employing a WAF (Web Application Firewall)

Use the Cloud Firewall to Block Attacks before They Reach Your Website: A cloud-based firewall is another protective shield around your website. However, it is not foolproof, and it only blocks a considerable amount of attacks before it reaches your site. However, with WordPress, you can install a cloud-based firewall from a trusted provider or security plugins that include the firewall feature. More so, you can configure the firewall to block suspicious IPs and behaviors and monitor your firewall logs for trends or new threats. It is a forefront defense mechanism to keep hackers at bay.

Although it may seem futile, you should Monitor and Scan Your Website Regularly: Since attackers often silently focus on your vulnerable spots, it is imperative to frequently monitor. You should use security plugins that scan your site for malware or suspicious changes. Further, get alerts for unauthorized file changes or new admin user, review your access logs for login attempts or strange activity, and regularly audit your website security settings. Regular checkup and care can prevent costly damages.

Strive to Enhance SEO and Security

You may be wondering why I would care about SEO on this cybersecurity post. Remember, the search engine per se deeply cares about your website safety. If you let your WordPress site get hacked, the search engine may blacklist it, and your SEO ranking will fall. The fall in SEO rankings will significantly affect your website traffic, your visitors will get security warnings, eventually, it will compromise your business reputation.

Therefore, to keep SEO strong and beef up your security, you should protect your website against malware and spam, use security headers like Content-Security-Policy, generate and submit sitemaps or improved sitemap on changes, and improve your site speed using secure and optimized plugins. In short, good SEO and cybersecurity are complementary.

Lastly, WordPress cybersecurity need not be difficult.

Simply:

There’s no need to tackle it all at once. Choose a couple of these steps today and begin to harden your site. By time, you’ll have made it much more difficult for cyberscoundrels to put their hands around your business.

That’s right, WordPress cybersecurity tips are critical for any business that needs to keep their house in order, grow online, and keep customers posting positive reviews all over town. Carry those points around in the back of your mind like talismans the rest of the time, and you’ll be fine.

Stay safe out there!