I’ve talked before about security on WordPress. While the developers at WordPress do a lot of good work to make their sites secure, there are a few thing you can do to improve the security of your site. You can do as much or as little as you’re comfortable with.
There are definitely several high-end security plugins and settings you can set up, but that requires more work than the average person typically wants to spend on their website. Last time I talked about security, though, I mentioned four simple ways you can make your website more secure. I’d like to expand on those a bit now.
Back up your website
Backing up your website ensures that you won’t have to recreate your site in the event of hacking, malware, server crashes, and deleted files. It’s especially important to back up your website before you make upgrades to your site, just to be safe.
I recommend installing a plugin for backing up your website. I use BackupBuddy, which backs up your entire WordPress site, including your pages, posts, themes, comments, media library—you get the picture.
Limit logins to your site
Limiting logins means that people—or malicious programs—who are trying to log into your website unsuccessfully won’t have unlimited attempts to break into your site. I recommend a plugin called WP Limit Login Attempts.
This free plugin limits the rate of login attempts to your site and blocks access to your IP address temporarily if there’s suspicious activity. It also requires filling out a CAPTCHA before entering the website as an added precaution. WP Limit Login Attempts is a lightweight plugin, so it’s less likely to slow down your website. And it’s only a one-time, $9 investment to upgrade to their premium version, if that appeals to you.
Update your WordPress site
Fairly regularly, a new version of WordPress is released. Whenever that happens, it’s a good idea to update your site to that version. Remember to backup your site first!
Update your plugins
Most plugins will also have newer versions available from time to time. In general, the most secure version of a plugin or WordPress will be the latest one. You can usually update your plugins and your website with just a few clicks, so it’s definitely worth checking for updates for a quick security boost!
These four actions are fairly easy and quick, and will help keep your WordPress website safe. If you have questions about these or would rather not have to worry about doing them yourself, feel free to get in touch.
