Safety First: Essential Security Measures for WordPress Bloggers
Keeping your WordPress blog secure is crucial. A blog is not just a space to share your ideas—it represents your hard work and reputation. If you don’t protect your blog, hackers could steal your data, crash your site, or damage your reputation.
Weak security also makes your blog run slower and less reliable, causing readers to lose trust in you. Therefore, in this article, we’ll cover important steps to keep your WordPress blog safe and running smoothly.
Choose Secure Hosting
The first step is to choose secure WordPress hosting because it provides built-in security features like firewalls, malware scanning, and DDoS protection. Good hosting companies also offer SSL certificates and regular server updates, which are key to protecting your website from attacks. When choosing hosting, you should prioritize providers that are known for strong security and reliable support.
Use Strong Passwords and Enable 2FA
One of the easiest ways to improve your blog's security is by using strong passwords. A weak password, like ”123456” makes it easy for hackers to break into your account. Instead, you should create a strong password with a mix of numbers, uppercase and lowercase alphabets, and symbols.
You can also enable 2FA to add an extra layer of security. With 2FA, you need a password and a second form of verification, like a code sent to your phone, to log in. This makes it much harder for someone to hack your account. Some recommended 2FA plugins for WordPress include Google Authenticator and Authy.
Keep WordPress, Themes, and Plugins Updated
Keeping WordPress, themes, and plugins updated is key to preventing security vulnerabilities. When you don’t update your software, hackers can find and exploit bugs or weaknesses that developers have already fixed in newer versions.
To avoid this, you can enable automatic updates for WordPress core, themes, and plugins. In the WordPress dashboard, go to Dashboard > Updates to check for the latest updates and enable automatic updates where possible. This simple step can save us from a lot of potential issues down the road.
Enable Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
SSL is a must for any blog that collects sensitive information, like login details or personal data. It encrypts the connection between the site and visitors, ensuring that their information is safe from hackers. To install an SSL certificate on a WordPress site, most hosting providers offer free DV SSL certificates (Domain Validated SSL) through the control panel, like cPanel. Once installed, the site will switch from HTTP to HTTPS, making it more secure.
Limit Login Attempts
Allowing unlimited login attempts opens the door for brute-force attacks, where hackers try various username and password combinations until they break in. By specifying the number of login attempts, you can minimize the chances of hackers gaining access to your blog.
For this purpose, you can use plugins like Limit Login Attempts Reloaded or Login LockDown & Protection to set a limit on failed login attempts. Once a limit is reached, the IP address trying to log in is blocked for a certain period. This helps protect your site from repeated attacks.
Use a Security Plugin
A security plugin can monitor your site for suspicious activity, block hackers, and scan for malware. Some important features to look for in a security plugin include a firewall, malware scanner, and login protection. Popular security plugins include Wordfence and Sucuri. These plugins provide both free and premium versions, giving us options based on your needs and budget.
Backup Your Blog Regularly
Even with all the right security measures in place, you should always have a backup plan. Backing up your blog regularly ensures that if anything goes wrong, you won’t lose your content. You can also use backup plugins like UpdraftPlus to automate the process. These plugins allow us to save your backups to external storage like Google Drive, so you can restore your site easily if needed.
Disable XML-RPC
XML-RPC is a feature in WordPress that allows remote access to your site. Unfortunately, hackers can also use it to launch brute-force attacks or take control of your site. If we don’t need XML-RPC, it’s a good idea to disable it to improve security. You can either use a plugin like Disable XML-RPC-API or manually add code to your .htaccess file to block it. This will prevent hackers from exploiting this feature.
Secure Your WordPress Admin Area
The WordPress admin area is where we manage your blog, so it’s important to keep it secure. You can start by limiting access to the admin dashboard. Only trusted users should have access, and you can restrict the number of users with admin privileges.
Another way to secure your admin area is by hiding the login page. Many WordPress blogs use the default login URL (e.g., yourblog.com/wp-admin), which makes it easier for hackers to find. You can use various plugins like WPS Hide Login to change the login page URL to something harder to guess.
Conclusion
Securing a WordPress blog is essential for protecting your hard work, your visitors’ data, and your blog’s reputation. By following these steps—using strong passwords, choosing secure WordPress hosting, keeping everything updated, limiting login attempts, using security plugins, enabling SSL, backing up regularly, disabling XML-RPC, and securing the admin area—you can keep your blog safe from hackers and other security threats.
