7 Practical Tips on How to Prevent WordPress Hacking
Wondering how you can make your website securer than ever? Maybe you are new to WordPress and don’t know what measures to take to ensure it is not easy for hackers to get into?
Well, the web design company Malaysia you are working with should help you make your website secure; we suggest that you also look at the seven practical tips we have mentioned below.
As stated by WpWhiteSecurity; over 70% of WordPress sites are at risk of getting hacked. But don’t fret, by the end of this guide, you will have a pretty good idea of how to make your site safe on your own or at least what to tell the developers so they can ensure it is impenetrable. So let’s start:
1. Go For a Secure Hosting Service:
This is the most crucial step, and usually, the one where many make the mistake of cutting corners. There are heaps of hosting providers out there that offer cheap rates, but the world runs on ‘you get what you pay for’ law.
So by compromising on the hosting provider, you compromise on your WordPress website’s security. When you choose a provider, make sure to check their security measures like firewalls, FTP security, SSL encryptions, server network monitoring, response to security breaches, backups, and so on.
However, if you really want best security, go for a dedicated server. This will only be used for your website. So unlike shared servers, where one website getting hacked can put others in jeopardy as well, your site will be fully secured. Ask your web design company Malaysia to get you a dedicated hosting if you can afford it.
2. Use WordPress Plugins:
A good security plugin will fail the attempts of hackers trying to penetrate into your WordPress website. It should include:
- Suspicious traffic blocking firewall
- Protection against brute-force attacks
- File, plugins, and themes checking scanner
- Regular notifications for security
You can explore the internet and read reviews about different security present, we suggest exploring Wordfence as well because it is well-known among WordPress users.
3. Get an SSL Certificate:
Many hosting providers offer free SSL, but if yours doesn’t, then ask your web design company Malaysia to get one and attach it to your website. SSL will change your website’s address from ‘HTTP’ to ‘HTTPs’ and will secure the communication between your website and the people browsing on it.
According to GlobalSign; 85% of people avoid shopping on unsecured websites, which is why SSL is especially needed for online stores as credit card details are put in to make purchases. So always ask the company providing ecommerce website package Malaysia to set up SSL for your store.
4. Get Secure WordPress Theme:
A theme is more than just the visuals, UX, and UI. It also needs to be secure, or else hackers can use its vulnerabilities to get into your website’s backend. Here are a few key things to look for in a secure WordPress theme:
- It should get regular patches and updates
- It’s coding should be excellent
- Should not have bugs or compatibility issues (check online reviews to know)
There are thousands of themes for WordPress out there, so it can get a bit tricky for you to find the right one. We suggest that when you get the web design services Malaysia, ask them to install a fully secure theme without compromising the UX, UI, and aesthetics.
5. Regularly Update WordPress:
WordPress sends upgrades when some new features are introduced, or some security risks are discovered in the existing version. Whatever the case is, always update your WordPress so you can have the edge over the hackers who know how to hack the current WordPress version.
We suggest that you backup your website first so that you don’t lose anything after the update. Furthermore, keep updating your themes and plugins too.
6. Use 2-Factor Authentication:
You can further strengthen your WordPress website be leveraging 2-factor authentication. This way, you will log into your dashboard in two stages; first, you put in credentials.
Second, you will get a one-time password on your phone or email; you will put that in as well, and then you will be allowed to log in.
7. Password Should Be Hard to Crack:
Techniques like Brute-Force can crack weak passwords easily because they try thousands of password combinations to come up with the one you have. Therefore, we suggest that you set a very hard and long password for your WordPress dashboard log-in page.
Always use small and capital letters, numbers, and special characters in the password and try to make it at least 15 characters long.
Over to You:
Lastly, we would suggest that you regularly backup your website because if it ever gets hacked, you can have your important data back with the help of a backup.
Your hosting provider should offer periodic backups; you can also ask the company offering you web design services Malaysia to set up regular backups for your website.
