How to keep a WordPress website secure and up to date

How to keep a WordPress website secure and up to date

WordPress powers over 500 million websites worldwide. While it was originally designed for blogging, it now enables the creation of conventional websites, online stores, membership sites and more.

WordPress is open source which means its code is freely available for anyone to use, modify and distribute, allowing developers worldwide to create plugins, themes, and customisations without licensing fees.

Being so popular and heavily dependent on third party plugins also means that WordPress is a common target for attacks.

According to statistics:

  • WordPress faces around 90,000 attacks per minute.
  • Weak passwords contribute to nearly 8% of WordPress hacks.
  • Nearly 61% of hacked WordPress sites were running outdated software.
  • Outdated plugins account for 90% of WordPress vulnerabilities.
  • Almost 42% of WordPress websites contain at least one known vulnerability.

Hacks, malware, backdoor attacks, and SEO spam are just a few of the threats that can compromise your server, steal visitor data and damage your website’s infrastructure.

Below are some recommendations you can follow:

Secure hosting

Always host your WordPress site with a top-quality provider, such as WP Engine or Kinsta, to ensure reliable performance and security. Choose a host that offers features like malware scanning, firewalls, and staging environments. Managed WordPress hosting often includes additional benefits, such as security hardening and automatic updates, helping keep your site protected with minimal effort.

Use strong login security

Use strong, unique passwords for all accounts, avoid the default “admin” username, and enable two-factor authentication (2FA). Additionally, limit login attempts to protect your site from brute-force attacks.

Change the default WordPress login URL

By default, WordPress login pages are accessed via /wp-login.php or /wp-admin, which attackers know and frequently target. Changing the URL to something unique makes it harder for automated bots and hackers to find your login page, adding an extra layer of security.

Keep WordPress core, themes and plugins updated

Always install updates for PHP, WordPress core, themes and plugins as soon as they become available to keep your site secure.

Keep your site lean by using a minimum amount of plugins.

Make sure you remove any plugins or themes that you are not using, as they can become potential vulnerabilities.

Only install plugins and themes from trusted developers to ensure reliability and reduce the risk of security issues.

Ensure all forms on your site have a spam check enabled

To keep your WordPress site secure and protect user data, ensure that all forms include a spam check, such as reCAPTCHA.

This helps prevent automated bots from submitting malicious content, overwhelming your system, or injecting harmful scripts.

Implementing spam protection on online forms, not only safeguards your site but also improves the quality of submissions and overall user experience.

Regular backups

Schedule automated backups daily or weekly, and store them off-site or in the cloud for safety.

In the event of a hack, server failure, or accidental data loss, having reliable backups ensures your website can be quickly restored with minimal disruption.

Install a security plugin

Security Plugins like Wordfence, MalCare, and Sucuri provide a firewall, malware scanning, and login protection for your WordPress site. They can also send real-time alerts whenever suspicious activity is detected.

Run a malware check regularly

You can also regularly run malware scans to detect and remove any threats on your WordPress site.

Don’t skimp on quality

The old saying, “you get what you pay for” is never more relevant than with Wordpress development. The main reason WordPress websites are popular is due to how cheaply they can be put together and launched.

Low-end web developers do this by cutting corners, such as using free plugins, no investment in mailware or security plugins, no WordPress core updates and no ongoing maintenance.

The simple message here is not to choose a WordPress developer based on price because you will more than likely be compromising on security. Once a WordPress site is hacked it often becomes unusable and needs to be rebuilt.

Conclusion

Keeping your WordPress site up to date is essential for maintaining strong security. Each new version of WordPress, along with plugin and theme updates, includes patches for vulnerabilities that could otherwise be exploited by hackers.

Regular updates ensure that known security holes are closed, reducing the chances of a successful attack and keeping your site’s infrastructure safe.

Want to learn more?

Feel free to book a Free Consulting session with one of our experts.