Security Concerns: Protect WordPress Website with Easy Steps
We are living in a modern era wherein people are addicted to browsing different websites on the global Internet to find the information they need, look for the desired products/services and accomplish a number of useful tasks every day. The growing use of the Internet has forced service providers, entrepreneurs, companies to go online with websites and blogs. It helps them to contact millions of potential customers and expand their business clout. But, various security vulnerabilities keep hanging around them website 24*7/365 days, giving them sleepless nights. The bitter reality is that all modern websites are vulnerable to various types of online security problems. WordPress websites are not an exception to it. Most of the website owners remain irresponsible towards the security of their sites. Actually, failing to protect your website can give birth to several performance problems, such as a sharp decline in traffic, loss of loyal customers, revenues, etc. If a hacker hacks your site and takes full control of it, he/she may change your website look, post rude content, steal confidential details, and make it go offline. All these will wreck your brand's reputation completely within a few minutes. So, if you operate a WordPress site and is worried about its well-being, we have some tips and suggestions for you. Just follow all these recommendations and protect your website against all types of online calamities- 1. Update Your Websites At Regular Intervals When you run a WordPress site, several notifications with regard to the updating of the software, theme, plugins, etc, hit your Email inbox from time-to-time. Most of the website owners tend to ignore those calls for updating and keep running their sites with the older version of the software, plugins, themes, etc. You must remember that the older versions of software, themes, plugins have may have security loopholes and bugs. Expert hackers can easily hack your site and make it go offline using those security flaws. So, don't ignore notifications for updating. Just update your website software, themes, plugins, etc, as soon as possible. This will help you to abolish security threats to your website completely and keep it safe for use. 2. Choose A Good & Trustworthy Hosting Company To operate a fully-fledged and professional website, one has to spend lots of money with open hands on the purchase of good-quality premium addons, hosting server, themes, software, payment of staff, and website security experts, etc. Due to the increasing competition on the web-based business, there always remains a higher possibility of limited income on the investment. So, most of the entrepreneurs look for ways to diminish the website operating cost as far as possible. Choosing a sharing hosting server is one such step- it's inexpensive. When you host your site to a shared server, it remains exposed to online security problems. It can also make your website slow up to a great extent, causing frustration among visitors. Frequent downtimes and limited resources (bandwidth) never leave your company. So, desert low quality hosting services and find its suitable alternative. For this, you need to review various hosting companies from different angles and choose one which offers the best value for your investment. When you host your site on a top-quality server, it not only runs fast and but also remains aloof from various online security vulnerabilities 3. Attach An SSL Certificate To Your Website If you run a service based website and deal with the sensitive details of your clients/customers, business partners, affiliates, etc, it becomes mandatory for you to attach an SSL certificate to your website without any fail. It protects the transmission of sensitive data on your site's server and keeps hackers away. With an SSL certificate, you can make your website more professional and trustworthy. 4. Craft A Definite Password Management Policy Passwords are essential to protect your E-accounts. These days, tech-savvy people use different social media sites, Email services, E-commerce website services, and register on several sites to buy/sell products and services online. It is very difficult for a person to use and manage different passwords for all these E-accounts conveniently. As a result, they use one easily predictable password to protect multiple E-accounts. This is a suicidal practice on WWW. Hackers can easily hack your multiple E-accounts once they come to know the password for one account somehow. When you run a website/blog professionally, you should have a definite password management policy. Never use a simple and easy password to protect your multiple E-accounts. Use a random password to secure your site. Keep changing your password and website login details from time-to-time to leave hackers clueless about your site's login details. You can use the best-quality Password Management Software to take care of all these things. 5. Block Frequent Spammers Completely With IP Address: When you create a website and make it live, by default, it remains available to all on the web. Anyone can access your website from all parts of the world. It helps you to get immense traffic and business opportunities from across the world and build up your user base in a quick succession. But, it invites some problems too. If you view Google analytics regularly, sometimes you find a sharp increase in website traffic, submission of comments, etc. All these are SPAM traffic, aimed at hurting your website. There are several countries (such as China, North Korea, Russia, Brazil, etc,) that are notorious for website hacking activities. If your website is for the visitors of the UK and USA, not for Ukraine or Russia (from where you get SPAM traffic), just block spammers using the specific IP address of those countries. If you do so, hackers from those countries will not be able to access your website anymore. But, use this step carefully and don't block your genuine visitors from emerging economies from where you could get substantial business opportunities in the future. 6. Use WordPress Security Plugins WordPress Security plugins are the right tools to combat hackers effectively and foil their countless efforts automatically to hack your site. There are various WordPress Security plugins you can use to protect your site against various types of online security threats. Some good options with their main benefits are detailed here below: WordPress Security Plugins WP Antivirus Site Protection: Helps you to prevent/detect and remove malicious viruses Wordfence Security: Multitasking All In One WP Security & Firewall: Multitasking BBQ: Block Bad Queries: Prevents malicious URL requests to hit your website Akismet: A helping hand in fighting SPAM comments 7. Automate Your Website Backup No website on the web is 100% secured against online security breaches. Security threats always hang around your website and you can't neglect it if your bread and butter come from the web-based business. It is said that prevention is better than cure. So, just backup your website 24*7 using WordPress backup plugins. This will help you to recover your site easily if it is hacked by cyber criminals and online bully elements. 8. Use A Good System To Access Your Website Most of the website owners underestimate the use of a virus-free computer/laptop to operate websites. If you use an infected system, harmful viruses, and bugs can easily break your website through back-doors and security loopholes. So, if your system is corrupted with viruses and bugs, just format it completely and install a trusted antivirus software, web browsers, firewall, etc. This will improve the security of your website up to a great extent. 9. Use Two-factor authentication for site login Two-factor authentication is an effective technique which adds an additional layer of security to your website. When you activate the two-factor verification on your website, the users need to verify his/her identity to access the website's admin area. For this, you get an OTP or security code on your registered Email Id, Phone number or alternate number. Just enter the OTP and sign into your website. When a person tries to log into your site using the password, he/she can't do that because of the lack of OTP. Even the website owner is asked to prove his/her identity when he/she tries to access the site on a new system. 10. Ask Visitors To Register For Submitting Comments Business rivals, foes, and hackers often involved in comment SPAMMING activities to damage your brand's reputation in the eyes of visitors and decay the site anyhow. They use automated machines for this purpose. You should use CAPTCHA to track and eliminate automated submissions made by artificial trollers. Ask all your genuine visitors either to register on your website or use the verified E-accounts/social media channels to submit their comments. Moderate their comments strictly and block frequent Spammers callously. 11. Get Your Website Reviewed By WordPress Security Experts: Website hackers use several sophisticated and unknown methods to hack sites, beyond your imagination and thinking. So, apart from implementing the necessary security practices, just get your website reviewed by professional wordpress developers. They can easily track all security loopholes on your website and suggest the best remedy for those problems easily. Final Words: Your site's security is directly related to your survival in the web-based business and the volume of business opportunities you generate. Just follow the above-mentioned tips to protect your WordPress site against all unfavorable circumstances and online security risks. Source:
