20 Steps to Strengthen Your WordPress Security in 2024
Tags: wordpress, security
Published: 2024-01-16 07:15:59


![Wordpress Security 2024](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/sewxn46dx9bwr1dej70s.png)
WordPress is one of the most commonly used content management systems, especially for those building websites with an estimated [835 million websites](https://popupsmart.com/blog/wordpress-statistics) running on them. 
Despite being popular, hackers have found different vulnerabilities, and they use them to hack websites. Cyber threats can lead to serious issues like paying fines, losing your website permanently, losing trust amongst your customers, losing finances, and ranking lower on search engines, affecting your search optimization efforts.
It does not mean WordPress is unsafe to use, but rather one must implement different ways to secure their website.

**The guide will cover 20 steps to secure their WordPress site in 2024.**

**1.Choose Secure Hosting Provider**

A better hosting provider ensures your site is safe from cyber threats and performs better. A good hosting provider must be able to offer quick customer services, better features, and performance, maintenance, and monitoring. Ensure you read reviews of several website hosting providers and do enough research before settling on one.
Avoid using cheaper providers who, after a certain period, you might regret why you chose them instead of doing proper research. The best providers include Cloud Ways, Kinsta, WPEngine, etc.

**2.Choose an SSL Certificate**

Install an SSL certificate to encrypt all communication between the server and client, safeguarding sensitive data from potential hackers. This ensures that all interactions occur over the secure HTTPS protocol instead of the vulnerable HTTP. For comprehensive protection of both your main website and its subdomains, consider opting for a [cost-effective Wildcard SSL certificate](https://www.cheapsslshop.com/wildcard-ssl-certificates). With a Wildcard certificate, you can secure the entire domain and its associated subdomains, providing a budget-friendly solution for enhanced security.

**3.Update Your WordPress**

Using outdated versions of WordPress CMS exposes you to several cyber threats. WordPress notifies its users when they login to their dashboards when there is a pending update. Before updating your WordPress version, ensure that you have a better site backup and that the newer version is compatible with the existing plugins and themes. Updating fixes any vulnerabilities that hackers may use to attack your website.

**4.Conduct Security Scans**

Regular security scans will enable you to detect any vulnerabilities on your site and help you fix them in time. You must set a target and achieve it within the set period. Several Wordpress plugins can help you automate the whole process without you having to set them every time.

**5.Install and configure Security Plugins**

Installation and configuring security plugins will keep your WordPress safe and free from any cyber-attacks. Look for a plugin that offers many security features under one plugin instead of installing several websites, which affects the overall performance of your website.
Some core features in a security plugin include a firewall, source file changes, 2FA, login limiter, unauthorized logins, malware, etc. Choosing a premium plugin is better than a freemium one due to the number of features offered. Some commonly used security plugins include Word Fence, Jetpack, Security Ninja, Sucuri, and All in One WP Security.

**6.Configure a CDN for Your Website**

Content Delivery Network services like Cloudflare will enable you to have different copies of your files across different regions. CDN will allow your site to load faster by rendering the nearest resources that the users request. CDN protects your website from cyber-attacks like DDOS attacks, where hackers send unlimited traffic to your website to make it unreachable, keeping you from such attacks, and keeping your site safe and running.

**7.Reduce the Number of Login Attempts**

Cybercriminals use methods like brute force attacks, using unlimited entries to guess the password until they get it correct. Having unlimited entries will give them access to your site. Setting up login attempts using timeout and WordPress plugins like as Login Lockdown will keep your site safe as they will lock anyone who reaches the set limit by locking them for the set period.

**8.Update Your Theme and Plugins**

Update them to fix any security bugs in the previous versions. Outdated themes and plugins allow hackers to find vulnerabilities and attack your site. When there is a new update, most sites notify you to take action.

**9.Secure your WordPress Site Login page**

There are several ways WordPress website owners can use to secure their login page. Some of the common ones include:
● After inputting the normal logins, set up 2-factor authentication to ask for extra security like OTP.
● Use stronger passwords.
● Remove the default username and passwords and set new ones.
● Adding other methods of verifying logins, like using captchas.
● Changing the login URL from the default example.com/wp-admin to something else.

**10.Avoid Using Nulled Themes and Plugins**

Nulled plugins and WordPress themes are pirated versions of the premium ones, where the users believe that anything under the GPL version should be free. Many of the nulled versions contain malware and other cyber threats, which could lead to your WordPress website getting hacked, and you can end up losing your entire website to hackers.
When selecting which plugin or theme to use, ensure you get them from official marketplaces like their websites and Envanto. It will cost you a lot of money to get it back when your website gets attacked by malware.

**11.Backup Your WordPress website**

Conducting regular backups enables you to continue where your site was in case of a cyber attack compared to when you don’t have a backup. Remember always to have your site backup on a different server.  The common methods for conducting backups include doing manual backups, using your hosting provider backups, and using WordPress plugins.
The advantages of using plugins are that they are automated, you can do it in one click, they have their environment, and some are free to use. Common plugins include BackWPup, UpdraftPlus, SolidBackup, BlogVault, WP BackItUpDuplicator, Jetpack, etc.

**12.Disable All the File Editing**

All WordPress sites allow administrators to edit the website code from the admin dashboard. You can turn this off by adding one line of code to the wp-config.php define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true );. It only allows individuals to edit the files using FTP, making it hard for third parties to have easier access to changing site source code and use it as a way to hack your website.

**13.Update Your PHP Version**

All Wordpress websites use the PHP language, and Wordpress developers normally have a minimum PHP version that their themes and plugins run on. Having the latest version makes your site run smoothly and eliminates any chances of hackers using the vulnerabilities to attack your site.
Newer versions of PHP get released almost every two years, which comes with increased security and fewer bugs. Each WordPress version also has its own PHP version. You can check your version by navigating to Site Health >Info>Server.

**14.Remove Idle Users**

When your WordPress website has multiple users, like administrators and authors, setting up a timeout to remove any idle users is good. Hackers use brute force attacks and cookie-hijacking methods to access your site. Setting timeouts will make them have a hard time when they try to access your site.
The easiest way to achieve this setting is to navigate to Settings> Idle User Logout, then choose the period for the timeout. This is after installing the  [Inactive Logout WordPress plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/inactive-logout/).

**15.Install WordPress Monitoring Plugins**

Use monitoring plugins to get notifications of file changes, logins, settings, etc. It enables you to take faster action in case of an attack. When selecting which plugin to work with, do proper research before downloading and installing the plugin.

**16.Check Your Website Permissions**

When you own a site with many users, assigning everyone with different roles with specific permissions to the files is better. If one of them gets attacked by malware, it won't affect the whole site and will be easier to control. Train all your users with access to your site to spot any suspicious cyber threats and how to avoid them.
WordPress offers up to six roles that you can select from when assigning roles.

**17.Change Your Database Prefix**

When you install WordPress for the first time, all the database prefixes start with wp_, i.e., wp_comments, wp_posts,wp_links, etc. Most of the time, hackers will have an easier time accessing default fixes and sending different queries to see if they work. Changing them makes it hard for them to try to guess which prefixes you use for your site.
Be keen when changing database prefixes, as it can break down your site. You can change this directly by managing your accounts or using WordPress plugins like Brozzme DB Prefix & Tools Add-ons.

**18.Hide Your WordPress Version, .htaccess, wp-config.php**

Hiding your htaccess, wp-config.php will improve your website security details by ensuring cybercriminals cannot access your site files. You can achieve this by adding these two pieces of code (order allow, deny, deny from all) to the two files.
When you install WordPress on your site, it gets included in the source code, which gives hackers an idea of your version. If, in any case, your website operates using an outdated version. The hackers will use the vulnerabilities to hack your site, and you lose it.
You can achieve this using the code below:
function remove_version_info() {
return '';
}
add_filter('the_generator', 'remove_version_info');

**19.Track the user's activity using Logs**

Keep logs of all the activities that happen on your site, i.e., content publishing, logins, new installation of plugins and themes, the visitors' IP addresses, etc. It makes it easier to detect when there is unusual behavior and makes you take action. You can use WordPress plugins like WP Activity Log.

**20.Remove All Unused WordPress themes and Plugins**

Unused themes and plugins decrease your website performance and pose a big security threat. Since you don’t use them, there are higher chances of having the m outdated, which could expose your website to cyber threats like malware, viruses, etc. Never let inactive themes and plugins run freely on your website.

#Conclusion
Many WordPress website owners believe that installing an SSL certificate is enough to secure their sites, which is not the case. Following our guidelines will enable you to ensure that hackers find it hard to hack your website. There are several benefits that site owners get when they follow the above steps.