WordPress Security: 5 Essential Steps to Protect Your Website from Cyber Threats

Without a doubt, WordPress is the most popular content management system you can find. If you have a website, chances are that it’s running on it. Although there are multiple other content management systems, WordPress is one of the most convenient.

Because of their popularity, hackers find it easy to practice and explore new methods of cyber attacks on such websites. However, this can also be applied to cybersecurity methods devised to protect against such threats.

This article delves into all the different methods you can apply to improve the security of your WordPress website.

WordPress Security Explained

WordPress security revolves around protecting your website from malicious traffic and hackers through a set of features and plugins it supports. You’ve likely heard that security breaches and data leaks have led to serious repercussions for website owners.

Some of the common cyberattacks you’re exposed to as a website owner include:

  • Brute force attacks: When hackers conduct this attack, they aim to crack your passwords and obtain unauthorized access to the root directory or your admin panel.
  • SQL injection: An injection attack is expected. It occurs when someone targets online applications and websites by exploiting vulnerabilities in the code.
  • Cross-Site Scripting: Injecting web pages to steal user credentials and session cookies.
  • Phishing: Creating a fake website that resembles the original one to get individuals to leave their sensitive information there.
  • Denial-of-Service: Hackers use one or dozens of devices to overload your website with incoming traffic.

For each of the previously mentioned cyber threats, there are several different methods that you can apply to defend against them. Most of them will be obsolete if you leverage the steps mentioned below.

Many website owners think their businesses are too small or irrelevant for cyber attacks, but this is a misconception. There’s always a risk that someone might target you, maybe with purpose and coincidentally. Regardless, you should protect your business and prepare for different ways in which people can harm it.

Methods For Protecting Your Website

Even if you aren’t the most tech-savvy person, the methods here can easily be implemented by anyone who can set up a WordPress website.

Yes, you’ve heard it right. You can implement a couple of these methods with a couple of clicks. Yet, many people overlook the basics when it comes to cybersecurity measures.

1. Regular updates

One of the most basic lessons in cybersecurity is to update your software regularly. This applies to your personal devices and programs as well. WordPress and your plugins receive updates all the time.

This is because experts continuously seek to understand whether a specific software version is vulnerable. Once the bug or vulnerability is recognized, a team of programmers solves it by updating the code, and then the new version is released.

Chances are that exploitable vulnerabilities are waiting to be found if you have an outdated WordPress version. Ensure you download the latest security updates once they are confirmed as safe.

2. Employee training

The technology itself isn’t the only problem you can face in terms of technology. Furthermore, internal security issues can be just as damaging as external ones.

Depending on the size of your business, you should train your employees to understand how to protect themselves and the company online. Many cases of employees downloading ransomware lead to significant problems for governmental institutions or billion-dollar companies.

An employee training curriculum must not be extraordinarily technical or complicated. Instead, it should help your employees recognize threats such as phishing emails and websites, create passwords, and tailor their profiles.

3. Security plugins

Using security plugins can prevent a significant portion of security vulnerabilities. For example, you can use Sucuri Security and Wordfence to scan your website for malware and potential risks.

Furthermore, you can use an application firewall to prevent harmful software from causing damage to your website. There are a lot of free security plugins, but you’ll have to invest if you’re looking for extra protection.

Of course, this isn’t cheap, yet it’s not as expensive as other cybersecurity software or hiring a specialist. Remember that just like WordPress, plugins receive security patches as well, and you’ll need to ensure that you don’t have outdated plugins.

You should also be wary of other plugins that you might install. Backup plugins or third-party plugins can be great to enable a specific functionality, yet you should ensure that they’re legitimate and secure.

4. SSL/TLS certificate

One of the most important ways to protect your website and legitimate users from security threats is to install an SSL/TLS certificate. This encrypts the data transfer between your website and its visitors.

SSL certificates are also important for SEO rankings, as Google penalizes websites that don’t use them. This is because malicious individuals use unencrypted data to obtain sensitive information.

5. Strong passwords & multi-factor authentication

Enforcing strong passwords for your employees and users will protect them from unauthorized access. Furthermore, strong and random passwords are a great defense against attacks such as brute force. While weak passwords usually contain recognizable words, strong ones incorporate uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.

You can use password managers to ensure that everyone is using proper passwords. A step further should be implementing multi-factor authentication, such as two-factor authentication. These authentication methods ensure that users have to confirm their identity twice. Even if someone gets their hands on a user’s password, they’ll still have to confirm the login via a token generation device, email, SMS, or biometrics.

Strong passwords should be an unavoidable layer of security that protects users and the business itself from unauthorized login attempts.

Cybersecurity is Essential for Your WordPress Website

There will always be more cybersecurity methods that you can apply. However, you need to balance cost, website performance, and effectiveness. The methods mentioned will significantly increase your defenses against cyber threats.

Remember that there isn’t a perfect method that’ll cover all the possible dangers you can encounter, yet you should always do your best to reduce risk. Furthermore, you should pair basic and complex methods with innovative and traditional ways of website security. You can find the latest security plugins once you’ve covered aspects such as SSL certificates and found a secure theme.