WordPress security should be the first priority when managing a website. You design your website, publish content, sell products online, but if you do not take WordPress security seriously, your site can get hacked anytime.
Every day 30,000 websites get hacked and more than 2,000 websites get blacklisted by Google. You are not an exception. If a government website can get hacked, then why not yours?
One morning, you woke up and see your WordPress site is inaccessible and see random messages like,
“your website is hacked by xyz” – the site is hacked
“the site ahead contains malware” – blacklisted by Google
This is the worst thing you could ever face with your website.
But, why WordPress?
WordPress powers over 31%(80 million) of the total websites on the web. According to W3Techs, WordPress has 60% of the CMS market share more than other platforms, which is a pretty solid reason for attracting hackers.
But don’t panic. Hardening WordPress security is very easy and you can do it too.
In this article, I will share 24 best WordPress security tips to protect your website from hackers and malware.
“Why not make the gate to your palace vanish before they discover it?” – WPMyWeb
Common WordPress Security Issues
Before we deep dive into WordPress security best practices, let’s first understand a few common WordPress security issues.
Many users believe that WordPress isn’t a safe platform to use for a business, which is not true at all. This is due to the lack of knowledge of WordPress security, poor system administration, using outdated WordPress software and plugins etc.
Many WordPress beginners assume that creating a website is the end and it doesn’t require any security maintenance. This is how you are leaving your site vulnerable.
Once hackers find vulnerable in your site, they can easily exploit your site.
Let’s check out some of common WordPress Security Issues.
- Brute Force Attacks: In the brute force attack, an automated script is used to generate various combinations of usernames and passwords. Hacker uses WordPress’s login page to run brute force attack.
If you are using a simple username and password, then you could be the next victim of this attack.
- Cross Site Scripting (XSS): Cross Site Scripting is a type of attack where attackers inject malicious code/ script onto a trusted website. This hacking method is totally invisible to the users who are surfing the website.
These malicious scripts load anonymously and steal information from the users’ browser. Even if a user inputs any data into any form, the data could be stolen.
- SQL Injections: WordPress uses a MySQL database to store blog information.
SQL injection happens when hackers get access to the WordPress database. By hacking the WordPress database, hackers can able to create a new admin account with full access to your site.
They can also insert data into your MySQL database and add links to malicious or spam websites.
- Backdoors: By the name “Back-door”, you can understand what it means.
Backdoor is a hacking method which allows hackers to enter a website by bypassing normal authentication process and even staying undetected from the website owner.
After hacking a website, hackers usually leave their footprint, so that they can reaccess to the website even the hack is removed.
- Pharma Hacks: WordPress Pharma hacks is a kind of website spam that fills search engine results with spammy pharmacy content which are banned on the web like Viagra, Nexium, Cialis etc.
Unlike other WordPress hacks, pharma hack results are only visible to search engines. So you can’t spot the hack by just viewing your website or the source code.
Go to Google and type site:domain.com. If the search results show your website content(not pharmacy content), then your site is not affected by pharma hacks.
The goal of this hack is to exploit your most valuable pages by overriding the title tag with harmful links. Not to mention, if you do not inspect the matter early, search engines like Google, Bing can blacklist your website for providing malicious content.
- Malicious Redirects: WordPress malicious redirect is a kind of hack where your site visitors are automatically redirected to spammy sites like gambling, porn, dating sites. This hack occurs when an malicious code is injected into your website’s file or database.
If your site redirecting visitors to illegal or malicious sites, your site will possibly get blacklisted by Google.
Read the full article here: https://www.wpmyweb.com/wordpress/wordpress-security.html
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