WordPress Security Checklist (2024) To Protect Your WP Site

The valuable content of your WordPress site is at great risk if you’re unable to protect it from hackers. Any security breach of your website can severely influence your reputation among your website visitors or potential customers. You can lose your valuable data or business information and might end up facing a great loss. So let’s prioritize our WordPress website security to proceed with our business goals with peace of mind. The best part is that it’s not that hard to protect WordPress website from hackers. Just go through this WordPress security checklist below and follow each step to make your WordPress site fully safe and secure.

1. Regularly update the WordPress core, themes, and plugins

Never ignore any recommended update of your WordPress core, themes, and plugins. The new updates are always better equipped to protect the website from any emerging threats. You can make your life easy by enabling the automatic update features wherever possible.

2. Use strong passwords

It’s vital to use strong passwords for your WordPress admin accounts, FTP, and Website hosting. Don’t use the same password for every account. Try to rotate passwords from time to time and try using a password manager tool to help you keep track of your passwords securely. You can also go for Two-factor authentication for added security.

3. Create backups of your WordPress website

Creating a backup of your WordPress website helps you restore lost content, data, themes, etc. without any hassle. There are different ways of creating website backups and you must schedule these backups to ensure your WordPress website security.

4. Don’t add unnecessary admin accounts

You should try to avoid adding any unnecessary admin accounts to manage your WordPress website. Keep a check on the inactive or unnecessary accounts and remove them to keep your website more secure

5. Use a WordPress hosting service with malware protection

Your WordPress website hosting provider plays a crucial role in maintaining your website and keeping it secure from any potential threats. See which security features your website hosting provider is offering and go for the one that ensures all the security features you’re looking for. Quality website hosting providers also help maintain the website regularly, including creating backups and managing potential threats beforehand. DDoS protection, server-level firewalls, web application firewalls (WAFs), intrusion detection systems (IDS) and SSL/HTTPS encryption features are also essential for added WordPress website security.

6. Use secure WordPress plugins

Only use WordPress plugins that offer security features like firewall protection, malware scanning, real-time monitoring, login attempt limits, and IP blocking to protect WordPress website from hackers.

7. Set strict and secure file permissions

Setting up strict file permissions is yet another vital step to secure WordPress sites.  Provide access to your website files, database, and directories to only the ones whom you trust and who really need the access. You must also disable directory listing or directory browsing of your website to secure the WordPress site from hackers.

8. Prevent your website from brute force attacks

You must protect your WordPress website by setting up security against brute-force attacks. Set a limit for the failed login attempts to your website after which the specific user or IP address must be blocked. You can also include bots identification CAPTCHA on your login forms for added security.

9. Secure the WP-Config.php file

The WP-config.php file of your site contains sensitive information about your website like the security keys, configuration, and database credentials. It’s always better to move the .php file from the root directory to any other directory where you’ve added access restrictions for the WordPress website security.

10. Secure the .htaccess file

Hypertext Access or the .htaccess file also includes configuration details of your website so make sure to keep it secure. A hacker can even change the server settings or run malicious code by getting access to this file. You must therefore make sure to keep the .htaccess file permissions restricted

11. Change the default Login Page URL

You must change the default login page URLs from /wp-admin or /wp-login.php to something unique. Hackers can easily guess these default URLs and can try to access your login pages, so it’s better to keep the URLs unidentifiable.

12. Monitor the content posted on your website

Sometimes hackers can try to harm your website by adding malicious scripts or links in the content. You must therefore monitor user-generated content regularly. It’s better to use such plugins which can automatically filter any suspicious content.

13. Stay updated on emerging threats

You should keep yourself updated on the latest information regarding the potential threats to the websites. You can do so by subscribing to blogs, social media platforms, or YouTube channels sharing such information. In this way, you can take preventive measures for any emerging threats to keep your WordPress website secure.

14. Automate the website maintenance and monitoring

Automate your website maintenance and monitoring as much as possible to be sure about its security. You should have a complete incident response plan to deal with any malicious activity immediately. If you are seeking hassle-free maintenance and monitoring of your website you should consider using a website hosting and maintenance service with malware protection to ensure your website security. In this way, you can stay focused on your business with peace of mind.

Conclusion

The idea of having so many threats to your WordPress website might seem quite overwhelming but there’s nothing much to worry about. All you need to do is follow the WordPress website security checklist for 2024 given above.

You’ll also need a WordPress maintenance service and hosting solutions fortified with advanced malware protection. MyWebMate is there to ease your life with its expert website maintenance and security services. Your website security is our top priority. Let us handle the intricacies of website security and maintenance, while you focus on what truly matters, growing your business and engaging your audience with confidence. You can trust MyWebMate to keep your WordPress site secure, optimized, and thriving in the ever-evolving digital landscape.