Is Your WordPress Website Secure?

Securing and maintaining a secure WordPress website should be as important to you as your content and optimization. I read about it every day, 100,000 WordPress sites hacked from using a specific slider plugin, over 50,000 WordPress sites hacked due to a vulnerability in a plug-in and it goes on and on. On average, over 30,000 WordPress websites get hacked a day. All this activity toward WordPress sites has nothing to do with WordPress and its core security, it has to do with the sheer volume of website owners opting to use WordPress to run their website and the fact that most of these owners do not take the necessary precautions to secure their site against malicious attacks. And there is the fact that plugins are an easy prey.

Not all but some plugin developers are not taking the necessary precautions to secure their code and hackers know this and use plugins as a means to gain access to your admin, database, and any user emails. A poorly scripted plugin can leave your website’s data open for any hacker to steal or bring your website down altogether. Don’t make it easy to hack your site, use plugins like Exploit Scanner to scan your WordPress install’s files and database to determine if your site may have fallen victim to malicious hackers and to look at files that can lead to an attack. Another plugin that is excellent at scanning your website files for Malware and other Virus like threats and security vulnerabilities on your server is Anti-Malware and Brute-Force Security by ELI. This plugin not only locates threats but helps to remove them.

If you have tech skills you can use WPScan a black box WordPress vulnerability scanner used by some hackers to scan WordPress website’s looking for an opportunity to attack. I recommend using this as a way to scan your site(s) to test for any weaknesses that can be exploited. I believe with each new plugin installed and even with core WordPress updates, you should rerun a test on your site.

In addition to installing security plugins and using services like WP Scan, WordPress website owners should look into hosting solutions that specialize in hosting WordPress backed websites. Hosting your WordPress website with a hosting company specializing in WordPress you gain the benefits of their experience and expertise in the field and the additional services they bring to the table such as malware scans, enhanced firewall, and daily backups to name a few features WP Engine brings to the table.

As a WordPress site owner WordPress Security should be on your list of to-dos along with content development, backlinking and conversions, it is that important..and without a website, the other things really don’t matter.