It doesn’t matter you’re running a big e-commerce website or a small blog; security is equally important for both websites.

WordPress is the most popular content management system with more than 40% market share. 90,000 attacks occur on WordPress sites every minute, according to Wordfence. And 90% of clean-up requests were from WordPress site in 2020, according to Sucuri report. It tells us why we should secure our WordPress website.

WordPress itself is not responsible for all security vulnerabilities. Themes and plugins such as WordPress lms collectiveray are known to be the number one culprit for most hacked sites.

Here in this article on how to secure a WordPress website from hackers, I will show you beginner to advanced level security techniques. If you apply these techniques, I assure you that your site will be full bulletproof against hackers.

So, let’s start securing your WordPress website design.

Why should you secure your WordPress website?

Will you keep your locker without keeping it safe from the potential thief?

I guess, No.

You will ensure the best security for your locker because it is a significant concern for you.

And this goes the same with website security. A website is just like an online locker for your business. If hackers can get into it, they can harm your business significantly.

Do you know how many websites hacked per day?

More than 162086 websites are hacked every day. And your website could be one of them because WordPress runs 90% of hacked sites. That’s why WordPress security is so important.

Unsecure websites are like open money suitcases. Anyone anytime can steal your valuable information.

If your website is unsecured, then hackers can harm a lot, such as can steal user information, passwords, important business information, can install malicious software, and hijack your website. Even hackers ask for ransom money for giving back the hacked site.

Moreover, Google blocks unsecured websites from its search results. It means your website won’t get any visitors from google if it is unsecured.

Do hackers hack small websites?

The size of your website doesn’t matter. If there is any venerability within your site, then there is a strong chance it will be hacked.

So, how can I secure my website from hackers?

Let’s know about proven techniques for securing WordPress websites from hackers.

How to secure WordPress website from hackers

A WordPress website faces different levels of security threats. Here I am going to share few ways that can protect your WordPress site from potential hackers, and they are;

Importance of  Web hosting

Webhosting matter most for website secucirty.

It is one of the reasons I always recommend using high-quality, reliable hosting.

Poor web hosting can cause a lot of problems. It can cause lower uptime, poor security, lower speed, etc. The security issue is the obvious one. This is what makes the difference between good hosting and bad hosting.

A good hosting company always keeps its security-related issues in check. They update server software and security-related things regularly. Furthermore, they also monitor their server security in real-time.

And the most concerning matter is you can’t know if your hosting company is taking care of security issues or not.

So, how can I keep my WordPress website secure?

In this case, select a good quality hosting. Here are some good quality web hosting company you can choose from;

• Bluehost
• Dreamhost
• HostGator
• WP engine
• Siteground
• InMotion

Is good hosting is enough to secure a website from hackers?

No!

There are other security enhancement methods you should apply besides using secure hosting.

And one of them is the WordPress security plugin.

Use security plugin to enhance WordPress website security

Now, I have moved my site from unsecured hosting to secure hosting.

Can I sleep now without tension?

The answer is a big no!

WordPress security plugin is the best way to enhance your WordPress website security. You can take your WordPress site security to the next level with few clicks. And the best part about this method is you don’t need to be a web security expert.

Here are a few most popular security plugins you can choose from, and they are;

• Wordfence
• iThemes
• Sucuri
• All in one WordPress security and Firewall

Above them, Wordfence is my favorite one. I have been using it for all of my site’s security. It is very easy to setup. You can set up all of its settings in few minutes.

Here is what a security plugin can take care of your site;

• Firewall protection
• IP and user blocking
• Malware scanning
• Subspinous activity monitoring
• Brute force attack protection

You can meet most of your site security needs using the security plugin. But I recommend you to read their guidelines before applying anything.

Use a web application firewall

Do you know what the first line of defense against hackers is?

Web application firewall. Yes, you’re reading right. This is what protects the site from attackers first.

Web application firewall protects sites from brute force attacks and DDoS attacks. Actually, it sends visitors to your site through its proxies, and before sending traffic, examine all traffic. These ways it protects WordPress site from hackers.

Plenty of web application firewall plugins available on the market. You can use one of them such as;

• Wordfence
• SiteLock
• Cloudflare

Web application adds another layer of protection, but you still need to take care of other security issues.

Set up login limit

It is a simple way to add another layer of protection to your WordPress website.

A default WordPress website allows you to login with an incorrect username and password for an unlimited time. It is big security flows, and every WordPress site owner should take care of this matter seriously. It allows hackers to use brute force techniques to hack into your site.

You can get rid of this threat with the help of a login limit mechanism. It has the option to block users after failed login attempts. You can set the maximum failed login attempts. When a user excess failed login attempt, he/she will be blocked from accessing your site.

You can set up login limits using plugins from Fully-Verified. Here are a few you can choose from;

• Cyber security
• Login lockdown
• iThemes

Just install any of these plugins and setup maximum failed attempts, and you have successfully added another layer of security.

Enable two-factor authentications

Two-factor authentication is becoming popular day by day. It is a simple technology but provides excellent security to websites at an extended level.

This mechanism adds another process to the usual WordPress login process. After giving username and password, it will send a code to your phone or email. You will be able to login after providing the code.

So, it makes hacker impossible to hack into your site because no one can have your site password, username, and your phone at the same time.

You can enable two-factor authentications using Google authenticator.

Use security questions for login

It is another simple but effective way to make your website bulletproof against hackers. Security questions for login make your site completely safe against unauthorized login because it is impossible to know the answer to someone’s security questions.

It is easy to enable security questions through the WP security question plugin. Just install and set up your security questions.

While setting directory permissions, do it carefully

Are you using shared hosting?

If yes, then this is a great deal for your website security. Directory permissions can be very dangerous for your website if you can’t set it carefully.

Setting up the right directory permissions adds security to the hosting level. To protect the directory and files, set directory permissions’ 755′ and files permissions to ‘644’. It will protect the whole directory, subdirectories, and files. You can do it through a command or using the file manager.

Enable protection for the wp-admin directory

This is another great way to add another security wall for your WordPress website.

Typically users can access your website’s directory, and it could be a way for hackers to exploit your site. If you block access to directories, then no one will be able to hack into your site through the directory.

There are several ways to protect the wp-admin directory from hackers. The best way is through password protection. And this one doesn’t need coding. After setting up passwords, it will ask username and password for accessing the wp-admin directory.

Update WordPress regularly

Do you know what the reason for most of the site’s security failure is?

It is using of old WordPress version.

Even popular news site Reuters was hacked when it was using an old WordPress version.

Vulnerability in software is nothing new. It is quite a simple fact. That’s why developers send updates after releasing particular software. And it is the same for WordPress.

To keep your WordPress site safe, you must update WordPress, theme, Plugins regularly. It will protect your site from vulnerabilities.

Now it’s up to you

WordPress website security is not only mean security. It means a lot more than that. Website security is as much as important as website performance.

No single security mechanism can’t make a website totally bulletproof proof. That’s why you need to think of multiple security layers.

In this article, I have provided beginner to advanced level WordPress security techniques. Which technique you’re going to implement first?

If I missed any critical security technique, let me know about that in the comment box below. A good wordpress website easily can improved the seo