If you want to get a website developed for your business you should definitely take a look at WordPress. It can be considered one of the most convenient methods available for getting a website up and running. But when you are building your website with WordPress, you should never overlook security.
When you are done with creating your website you are open to a whole world. If you have not integrated the necessary security precautions your website might face some serious security issues. Your website might contain sensitive data like; customers credit card details and personal details. Therefore, if you have not taken precautions, you and your customers may be exposed to a considerable risk of being hacked.
Once a hacker gets into your website they can not only steal your information but also destroy all the information of your website. The most dangerous part of such destruction is you can never undo such disastrous act. Therefore it is your duty to take the necessary precautions to discourage hackers and keep your data safe and let the business continue to run smoothly.
Below are some security precautions you can think consider for your website. By taking these steps you can help seriously reduce the chance that you’ll get hacked.
1. Stay Updated
Be aware of the latest threats in the digital world. You should at least know the basic information of the possible threats and which will help you decide what precautions you should take. There are few websites which can assist you to get up to date information. You can take a look at those websites and then you will be able to stay updated with ease.
2. Lock Down Your Access Control
Make sure that your basic precautions are tough enough to discourage a hacker. Never use easy-to-guess passwords and usernames. It is much better if you change the default database prefix from wp to a harder and more random prefix. You can even limit login attempts. If there is more than one user on your WordPress website, you need to introduce strong security policies for all of those users. Following these precautions can give you the peace of mind of knowing that your website cannot be hacked by guessing the password.
3. Software updates are crucial
It is important to update your software regularly. Do not neglect the updates. What if the most recent update is about security vulnerability and you have neglected it? Hackers are quick to become familiar with security issues in WordPress, so take advantage of the security updates that WordPress provides. Ideally you should automatically install all core WordPress updates.
4. Install Security Ninja
If you’re wondering how to keep your WordPress site safe, you must take a look at the security plugins available as well. That’s where Security Ninja comes into play. It is one of the best and most popular security plugins available WordPress users. Security Ninja makes it easy to secure your WordPress site.
Security Ninja only takes a minute to scan your whole site for security issues and then helps you deal with them one by one. Easy and efficient!
5. Maintain a strong network security system
You should pay a good attention to the security your network. You never know if users in your office inadvertently provide easy access to your servers. Therefore, make sure that you have taken action to:
- Expire user logins after a short idle period
- Frequently change the passwords
- Use strong passwords and never write them down.
- Scan all the peripherals whenever you use them with the computer
6. Try a Web Application Firewall (WAF)
WAF can be software, hardware or can be a combination of both. It stands between your web server and the data connection to read each and every bit of data transmitted. WAFs have the ability of blocking malicious accesses and hacking attempts to provide you the peace in mind. There are some built-in firewall options available in WordPress for you to try out. You can take a look at them as well.
Again, we advise checking the Security Ninja PRO plugins which now feature a Cloud Firewall that will protect you.
7. Install security applications
Although not affective as WAF’s, security applications can make hacking attempts difficult to a certain extent. There are free and paid applications available to download. These are good in preventing automated hacking attempts
8. Use SSL
You have the option of using an encrypted SSL protocol when transferring your users’ sensitive data. In fact, this can protect your information from being read by unauthorized persons. Setting up SSL with WordPress is pretty easy and should be considered an important step in securing any WordPress installation.
9. Backing up
Last but not least, you should back up your website’s data both online and offline very often. This will be useful if any damage is caused to your website. Use an automated backup system to backup the website multiple times a day.