Secure WordPress: A Must-Follow WordPress Security Checklist

Okay, let’s be honest-managing a WordPress site is exciting but also a nerve-wracking thought when considering security. Hackers are out there, and your site could be vulnerable without the right protections in place. Don’t worry, though: I’ve got your back! Here, in this guide, I will walk you through everything you need to know to keep your WordPress site secure-from the basics up to some advanced, Must-follow WordPress Security Checklist techniques. Are you ready? Let’s dive in! 

Why You Should Care About WordPress Security in Your Online Business

If your business runs on a WordPress website, whether it is a blog, an eCommerce store, or a portfolio, security is not just important-it’s crucial. You must-follow WordPress security checklist Here’s why:

1. Protect Your Data: Your website contains sensitive data like customer information and business details. A breach can expose this, causing serious problems.
2. Customer Trust: Nobody enjoys purchasing from an insecure site. A well-secured site lends credibility with visitors.
3. Avoid Down Time: A hacking attempt could lead to days of down time, money and credibility down the drain.
4. Legal Compliance: With a new regulation like GDPR, you can face fines running into millions if your website leaks customer data.
5. SECURE: Google likes a secure site. Measures in place will increase rankings in the search engine result pages.

Finding and Avoiding Standard Security Flaws of WordPress

Without following a must-follow WordPress security checklist, WordPress, being an open-source content management system, can become a hacker’s paradise. Standard vulnerabilities include:

• Old Version of Software: Running the outdated versions of WordPress, themes or plugins leave one vulnerable to hackers.
• Weak Passwords: The use of easily guessed passwords reads like having a banner placed, marking an invitation to brute force attacks.
• Unsecure Plugins: Sure, plugins are good. However, if they are not kept up to date properly, they may cause trouble.
• Brute Force Attacks: Hackers attempt to guess every possible combination of usernames and passwords to crack it.
• SQL Injections and XSS Attacks: The bad guys can manipulate your site’s database or inject malicious scripts into your pages.
• Phishing: Hackers bring login credentials from genuine users by sending phishing forms or emails.

Steps to Evaluate the Security of Your WordPress Website

Not sure how your site stands security-wise? Scan your website. SiteLock, or VirusTotal can scan your site to check for malware and other vulnerabilities.

You can add WordPress security plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri to monitor your site continuously. They’ll alert you about the security threats you must address promptly.

WordPress Security Basics Checklist

If you are a first-timer, here is the security checklist so you will be sure that you include all the basic things:

1. Update WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins

Always make sure your WordPress installation, themes, and plugins are upgraded to the latest version. Most updates carry security patches which can protect against known vulnerabilities. Do it as a habit to review updates weekly or, much better, allow automatic updating for plugins and themes.

2. You and the User Use Strong, Unique Passwords

An important password can go a long way in securing your site. Use uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Tell your visitors your website, for instance administrators or contributors, to do the same. You can also use password manager like LastPass or 1Password to make things easier for you and your visitors.

3. Installation of SSL Certificate

Installing an SSL certificate is probably the most effective method to enhance the security of your WordPress website. It encrypts data transacted between your website and visitors, and the same cannot be easily stolen by hackers who intercept sensitive information. Here’s why you should install an SSL certificate on your site:

• Data Encryption: SSL ensures that data transmitted between your website and its visitors, like login details or credit card information, is kept confidential and secure.
• Trustworthiness: Websites with the SSL certificate have a padlock symbol in the address bar of the browser. It is a sign that lets visitors know that your website is safe, and thus increases the chances of their conversion.
• THE SEO BENEFITS: Search Engine Optimization Usually, search engines like Google tend to rank those sites as their top priority if they are well-secured. That means having an SSL certificate will push your website on top of the search results, which goes easily into the field of potential customers.

To configure an SSL certificate, you can get one from your web hosting service-most web hosting services provide free SSL certificates with Let’s Encrypt-or else you can purchase an SSL certificate from a certificate authority. Once configured, do not forget to replace your site settings with the HTTPS version rather than the HTTP version.

4. Remove Unused WordPress Plugins and Themes

Unused plugins and themes usually have major impacts on the security of your WordPress website. They can be easily detected as potential entry points for a hacker, which increases your chance by percentage. Here’s how to manage your plugins and themes correctly:

• Review your needs: Installed plugins and themes must be reviewed routinely. A question that may need to be asked is whether any of them are no longer needed for your site’s functionality. Remove them if they are no longer needed.
• Deactivate and Delete: In itself, deactivating an installed theme or plugin doesn’t make it secure. To ensure that your site is secure and properly protected, go ahead and delete unused plugins or themes from your WordPress dashboard. This reduces the number of possible back doors that hackers can use.
• Update all things: Make sure you update all plugins and themes being used. Most of the developers keep releasing updates that patch security flaws and many improvements in functionality. The more you update them, the more secure your site remains.

Those two will actually secure your WordPress. An SSL certificate and eliminating everything you no longer use in your WordPress, such as plugins and themes. Besides protecting your site, you build trust with your visitors by making the online environment more secure.

5. Switch to a Reputable Hosting Provider

The hosting provider should make sure you have SSL certificates, DDoS protection, and regular server monitoring. All of these can be taken care of by managed WordPress hosting, like WP Engine or Kinsta, for example, that generally include built-in security features to make life a lot easier.

Key Tips in Using WordPress Security Plugins

1. Limit Login Attempts

The default setting on WordPress is to let the user attempt to login anytime, which opens you up to brute force attacks. Install a plugin like Limit Login Attempts Reloaded which can ban IP addresses after a certain number of attempts have exceeded.

2. Turn On Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Even the most secure password is not invincible. The added security on your site, if not using 2FA would be to have them use it. This way, users receive a code that is sent to their phone and have to enter this in addition to their password to enter. This cuts out hackers. A nice WP 2FA Wordfence plugin can help with this.

3. Backup Your Website’s Database and Files

Recent automatic backup might just become your long-awaited solution when something goes wrong. Use UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy to set automatic backups. Off-site storage, such as Google Drive or Dropbox, and regular testing for updates are essential.

4. WAF-Web Application Firewall

A WAF is essentially a bouncer for your site, filtering out bad traffic before it hits your server at all. Cloudflare is an example of a service that offers great WAF options; Wordfence is another popular plugin.

5. Change the URL of your WordPress login page

First, the default login page URL /wp-login.php is quite easy to guess, and any brute force attack is aimed in that direction. Change it to a unique one with WPS Hide Login or add this rule to your .htaccess file:

RewriteRule ^new-login-url$ https://%{SERVER_NAME}/wp-login.php?key=yourkey [L]

Replace new-login-url and yourkey with your own values

6. Top WordPress Security Plugins You Should Consider

Want another layer of security? Here are some of the best plugins for WordPress security:

• Wordfence: Complete security: the firewall, malware scanning, login protection
• Sucuri: Offers real-time monitoring, malware detection and performs security audit
• iThemes Security: The go-to plugin for brute force protection and file monitoring
• Jetpack Protect: Principal focus on brute force attacks and downtime monitoring

Special Expert Tips on How to Secure WordPress without Adding Plugins

Well, now that you know the basics, let’s get into some of the nitty-gritty stuff to make your site really secure.

1. How to Migrate Your WordPress Site to SSL/HTTPS

SSL encrypts data between your server and your visitors, making it much harder for hackers to intercept. Most hosting providers offer free SSL certificates. Once installed, update your URLs to HTTPS by going to Settings > General and changing the WordPress Address and Site Address fields.

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [R,L]

2. Change the Default “admin” Username

This is essentially handing half of your login information over to hackers by using “admin” for your login name. Create a new user with admin privileges, log in with the new user and delete the default “admin”.

3. Disable File Editing

This setting allows admins to edit theme and plugin files directly from your dashboard unless you change it. You can do that by adding the following line in your wp-config.php file: define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true);

4. Block PHP File Execution in Certain WordPress Folders

Block PHP file execution in folders like wp-content/uploads since attackers upload malicious scripts in there. You should put a .htaccess file in the folder and write:

deny from all

5. Change the default WordPress database prefix

Burglars make use of the default wp_ database prefix to execute SQL injections. Modify it to something else by adding in your wp-config.php file:

$table_prefix = ‘newprefix_’;

6. Block Directory Indexing and Browsing

Hide your directory structure from hackers with this in your .htaccess file

Options -Indexes

7. Disable XML-RPC in WordPress

XML-RPC is pretty commonly used in brute force attacks. You can add this to your .htaccess file

<Files xmlrpc.php>

order deny,allow

deny from all

</Files>

8. WordPress Auto Log Idle Users

This can be taken advantage of if a user has logged in and stepped away from the session. Automatically log out idle users with this code in your functions.php file:

<?php

function auto_logout_idle_user() {

if ( is_user_logged_in() ) {

wp_enqueue_script( ‘idle-logout’, get_template_directory_uri(). ‘/js/idle-logout.js’, array(‘jquery’), null, true );

}

}

add_action(‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘auto_logout_idle_user’);

?>

9. Remove the WordPress Version

Eliminate WordPress version from your site’s source code: add in your functions.php

remove_action(‘wp_head’, ‘wp_generator’);

10. Block Hotlinking

Keep others from stealing your bandwidth by adding this to your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\\.)?yourdomain.com [NC]

RewriteRule \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ – [NC,F,L]

11. Check User Roles and Set File Permissions

Ensure only trusted users have access to admin and regularly check your list. Ensure that proper file permissions are in place so other users cannot modify the contents of your files. Use 755 for directories and 644 for files.

Conclusion

Securing your WordPress site isn’t a one-time job-it’s actually a constant process, so keep an eye on things. Take this checklist, put all these advanced must-follow WordPress Security Checklist
techniques into practice, and lock in your site tight against those bad guys. I promise you, you will thank me for it ten years down the line!

If you need help securing your WordPress website or following a must-follow WordPress security checklist to improve its overall security, please contact me. You can also get a free security assessment by submitting the form in the top right sidebar. Stay safe and secure!