Best WordPress Security Tips Without and With The Use Of Plugins

Why do you need to protect your WordPress site?

The Well, having a secure website is an essential thing for every website owner. While you can secure your site with all the plugins available. There are also some handy tips that you can implement to ensure good WordPress security. 

There are some instances where security plugins conflict with the theme of your website or do not work as expected. Still, you can remarkably pump up the security of your WordPress website without the use of any third-party.

With the help of the WordPress admin and your cPanel account. You can start implementing some best practices. It will also secure it by editing these configuration files: .htaccess (for server config) and wp-config.php (for WP config). You can see the files in the public_html folder of your WordPress installation.

Why do you need to protect your WordPress site?

Website security is the most crucial responsibility of its owner, whether it’s WordPress or not!

Google has recently blacklisted thousands of websites and pages containing malware or any other penetrability.

Let’s see why WordPress security is so important :

There’s a common perception among small business owners that site security is not a significant issue for them. But, it’s not in real. Hacker’s do not care how big or small the business is. If your website incorporates any confidential information, then it is hacking inclinable.

What can happen to your business if your WordPress site gets hacked?

So let’s start with the first significant loss, that you will end up losing a lot of money. It is an important point because you do not want anyone to reach your confidential information. And, you need to ensure that you secure your site from any malevolent software installation as far as possible. 

Your company’s reputation is in your hands. So, you need to find out how you can maintain the goodwill of your website. To do so, the security of the site is considered an important parameter. In this world of digital marketing, your clients tend to visit your website first, before actually reaching out to you. 

Can you afford to represent an unsecured website to your clients? Of course not. The site helps to build trust, and a secured website reflects your care towards your visitors, customers, stakeholders, and more. A secured website will always help you to enhance the profit of your business.

Here are the tips that can be implemented to ensure WordPress website security without using plugins:

Perform Updates Regularly

Perform Updates Regularly

The WordPress team regularly analyses and addresses security issues. Whenever they come into penetrability, they will fix the problem. You will see bug fixes and security patches in the section – Dashboard > Updates menu in the WordPress admin area. It is essential to ensure that your website is regularly updating. 

Just by doing that, your job is not done after updating WordPress to the latest version. It is a must to pay attention to the plugins and themes you are using. If there is any new update available for them, you should have to update them. The plugin and theme authors also generally launch security updates when they are necessary.

Restrict User Privileges

Refrain from giving too many privileges to familiar users on your WordPress website. If there are a lot of users on your website, they should only have the necessary opportunities. WordPress gives you a nimbleness user management system with the following user roles:

Restrict admin gives some rights to you or only to the users who are responsible for performing the tasks. Tasks like updating the WordPress version, updating the plugins, modifying the settings, monitoring comments, installing themes, and making changes in the subject. 

You can easily change the roles of your existing users by clicking on the ‘Users’ admin page. To make your WordPress website secure, analyze this table – ‘Roles and Capabilities’ present in WordPress Codex. To choose which permissions are required for the users on your website. Do not select admin privileges if they are not in need.

Do Not Use The Default ‘Admin’ Username

Remove Plugins And Themes You Don’t Need

Website owners install a lot of plugins that they might not need at a later point in time. Unused plugins and themes can, at times, hinder the security of your WordPress website. A lot of plugins and themes means more vulnerability of your site. It means that you are at a higher risk of your site to get the hack. 

Therefore make sure only to have the plugins and themes that you use, and that is compulsory. Deactivating plugins is not a permanent solution, if the plugins or themes are not in your use, remove it altogether. If you only use one theme on your WordPress website. It makes no sense to have more than one theme installed on your website. For enhanced WordPress security, it is essential to delete the inactive plugins and themes.

 Create Regular backups Of Your Database

Select a WordPress hosting plan that provides the option of creating backups of your WordPress website. You are able to create backups for your WordPress website. Files, folders, and databases through the automated regular cloud backup feature in your hosting plan. 

The cloud backup software tracks every change made on your website daily by which you can recover all your website data whenever you required.

Use The HTTPS Protocol

If you have to go for a WordPress blog, it is essential to make your website secure by installing an SSL certificate. Blog owners may think that an SSL certificate is not necessary for a blog website, but if you believe that, then you are wrong. You might be having a lot of visitors and subscribers on your website. 

Therefore, it is a must to secure your website. The visitors of your website should log in through a secure SSL protocol. You can buy a proper SSL certificate from your web hosting provider. Whenever you purchase an SSL certificate, you can use either the HTTPS protocol only for the admin area or for the entire website. 

It is advisable to use the HTTPS protocol for the entire site as even Google favours a secure and fast website.

Disallow Unfiltered HTML

WordPress enables the admins of a website to post HTML markup and Javascript inside of a <script> tag in pages, widgets, posts, and comments. But, it can be harmful to admin’s or editor’s if their account gets compromised. So, you can filter the HTML markup or code posted by them by adding the rule which is mentioned below in the wp-config File:

define( ‘DISALLOW_UNFILTERED_HTML’, true );

After setting the rule mentioned above, JavaScript and HTML will not be executed. It will appear on the website as a plain text.

Deny Access To Your .htaccess Files

There can be possibilities to banned unauthorized access to all your .htaccess files of your WordPress installation. Your .htaccess files comprise of Apache server configuration; So, they are available publically in the browser.

If you type this in your browser – http://yourwebsitename.com/.htaccess, you can see if everyone on the net can access your main .htaccess File. You need to use the following .htaccess rule for protecting all your .htaccess files:

<Files ~ “^.*\.([Hh][Tt][Aa])”>

Order Allow, Deny

Deny from all

Satisfy all

</Files>

WordPress security without plugins concludes:

Implementing the best security practices will make your website secure and difficult to hack. You can, of course, install security plugins, but you will be able to go a step further by applying some useful tips to secure your website.

Now let’s see the 7 Best WordPress Security Plugins.

Before diving into the critical WordPress security plugins, let’s first check an example. Suppose you purchase a new house. This latest investment, though, seems to excite you but requires a hefty down-payment. You’re most likely not to spend. Additionally, you hit with inspection fees before buying. The other one is the mortgage and insurance payments that you can pay by yourself.

Of course, buying real estate is one of the best investments in today’s era, but that deal may be expensive.

To make such a huge investment (and something that could help you earn big bucks in the future,) wouldn’t you be able to protect it to the best of your ability?

Therefore, you buy the insurance and consider setting up an alarm system or some security cameras, as per many experts. Placing a security system sign on your door is essential to scare away those who don’t want to take the risk.

So you need this complete protection to secure the initial investment, which includes the probable for that investment in the future.

Similarly, you should also have to think in the same way about your WordPress website.

If you start a blog, eCommerce website, or small business site. You need to invest in services like hosting, plugins, themes, and website development. Besides, you will also need to invest in hiring customer service representatives or salespeople.

This initial investment is enough to secure your website from scratch. But after this, you have to make sure that you remember to ensure the potential money you are going to make in the future.

WordPress core includes some of the security aspects in place by default. But this is the same as what a reputable security plugin makes for you.

For example, some of the best WordPress security plugins offer the following things:

So, let’s take a look at the seven best WordPress security plugins to secure your website:

Wordfence Security

The wordfence Security is the most used security plugins in the world. This security plugin has simple and robust security tools, such as robust login security features and security incident recovery tools. The main benefit of Wordfence is that it allows you to gain insight into overall traffic trends and hack attempts. This plugin has been installed by over 2 million people and is steadily increasing the trust of millions of WordPress users internationally.

It offers you one of the most impressive free solutions, from firewall blocks to brute force protection. But, you can only purchase the premium version for your site, which will offer you a lot of features. If you are a developer and will signup for multiple site keys, you get steep discounts. For instance, if go for 25 cores, the price gets reduced to for each site. Therefore, you should consider Wordfence if you’re developing multiple websites and want to secure them all.

Some Features of WordFence Security

1. You can save a lot of money from the developers when they sign up for multiple site keys.

2. Small sites can go for the free version as it is powerful enough to secure such sites.

3. When the plugin scans the website, it removes malware, real-time threats, and spam. It scans all files for malware instead of just WordPress files.

4. It includes a complete firewall suite with tools for country blocking, manual blocking, brute force protection, real-time Danger Defense, and web application firewalls.

5. The plugin keeps track of live traffic by looking at things like human visitors, Google crawl activity, logins and logouts, and bots.

6. With the comment spam filter, this eliminates the need to install a separate plugin.

7. Insecure or hacked plugins are monitored by it to confirm if they have been removed from the WordPress plugin repository and are no longer updated.

iThemes Security

iThemes Security

Previously we have looked out some points of WP Security. The iThemes Security plugin is also one of the more effective ways to protect your website, with more than 25 offerings to stay away from spam and hacks. Its purpose is to identify plugin vulnerabilities, obsolete software, and weak passwords. This plugin offers over 30 total security measures, which make it highly valuable.

Unique Features of iThemes Security

1. You get a file change detection option, which is essential from the webmasters’ point of view as they don’t notice when a file is dissipated.

2. The Google reCAPTCHA integration adds an extra layer of security to your login.

3. Your WordPress necessary files are compared to the current version of WordPress, which further helps you to understand if anything malicious is placed in those files.

4. Your WordPress salts and keys are updated to add an extra layer of insolubility to your authentication keys.

5. The plugin provides an “Away Mode,” and this mode can be turned on when you’re not making updates constantly to your site and want to lock your WordPress dashboard from all users completely.

6. Also, you also get other essentials like 404 detections, brute force protection, and vigorous password prophethood.

Sucuri Security

Sucuri Security

There are both free and paid versions of the Sucuri Security plugin are available, yet most of the websites get all they need with the free plugin. For example, for a website firewall, you are required to pay for a Sucuri plan, but not every webmaster involves that type of protection.

In a free version, you get security activity auditing to see how perfectly the plugin is protecting your website. It comprises of file integrity monitoring, security notifications, blacklist monitoring, and security hardening. And in the paid plans, you get customer service channels and more frequent scans. For example, if you want to scan every 12 hours, you will need to pay a small amount per month.

Unique Features of Sucuri Security

1. You get several types of SSL certificates for which you have to pay a fixed amount of fee, but it’s available in the packages.

2. You can contact the customer care service department via instant chat and email.

3. If something terrible happens with your website, you will get instant notifications. And also you will get advanced DDoS protection with some plans.

5. You get valuable tools for blacklist malware scanning, monitoring, file integrity monitoring, and security hardening even if you don’t pay money for them.

WP fail2ban 

WP fail2ban

It delivers one crucial factor, which is protection from brute force attacks. The plugin offers different approaches, which seems to be more effective as compared to some of the security suite plugins mentioned above. WP fail2ban records every login attempts Without considering their nature or successfulness, to the Syslog with the help of using LOG_AUTH. You can supply a softer or tougher restriction, which stands peerless from the more traditional approach of only selecting anyone.

You do not need to know much more about the configuration for the plugin. There is no need to install it and let it do work on its own. Additionally, the brute force security plugin is entirely free, so you don’t need to spend your money. Since the users give a positive review for this plugin that it works flawlessly, it seems to be different from the other plugins.

Unique Features of WP fail2ban

1. It is possible to unify with CloudFlare and proxy servers.

2. You can make a selection between hard or soft blocks.

3. You may log comments to stay away from spam or malicious comments.

4. It also records information about spam, pingbacks, and user enumeration.

5. This provides an option to create a shortcode that blocks users immediately before they have a chance to access the login process.

All In One WP Security & Firewall

All In One WP Security & Firewall

All In One WP Security & Firewall plugin is the best feature-packed free security plugins that provide a user-friendly interface and decent customer support without any premium plans. Being a highly visual security plugin, it offers graphs and meters to explain the metrics such as protection strength. And other things by which you can strengthen your site to the freshers.

The features are defined into three types: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. Therefore, even if you are a beginner, you can still take advantage of this plugin. These plugins mainly work by securing your user account, improving the security of user registration and blocking forceful attempts on your login. The plugin also provides you with the database and file security.

Some Unique Features of All In One WP Security & Firewall

1. This plugin includes a blacklist tool which allows you to set specific requirements to block a user.

2. It also allows you to backup .wp-config files and .htaccess And also, you will get a tool to restore them if anything goes wrong.

3. It displays one graph to mention how secure your website is and another figure that points to certain areas of your site. By doing so, the average user can visualize what’s going on with the site’s security.

4. You can get this plugin free of charge.

Jetpack

Jetpack

If you are the user of WordPress, you might have heard about Jetpack. It is mainly because the plugin offers multiple features as the people develop it from WordPress.com. Jetpack comes with different modules that help in building up your social media, site speed, and spam protection. There is various kind of features in Jetpack, and thus, it is undoubtedly worth exploring.

Some security tools are included with Jetpack, too, which makes it an appealing plugin for budget savvy and those who depend on the reputable solution. For instance, the Protect module is offered for free, and it helps in blocking suspicious activity. The primary security functionality from Jetpack also offers brute force attack protection and whitelisting.

Therefore, the paid versions of Jetpack are highly robust in terms of security. For instance, the Personal plan comprises of malware scanning, scheduled website backups, and restoration if anything goes wrong. Moreover, the Professional plan includes on-demand malware scans and real-time backups for the ultimate protection.

Some Unique Features of Jetpack

1. You get the right amount of security for a small website with a free plan, and later, you can upgrade to the reasonably priced premium programs. It offer complete support and a plugin that’s one of the best on the market.

2. With the premium plans, the plugin converts into a suite, with benefits like backups, spam protection, and security scanning.

3. All the plugin updates are fully managed through Jetpack.

4. It also offers downtime monitoring.

5. With Jetpack, you won’t feel the need for other plugins as it provides a complete package for website security. For example, it includes features for email marketing, social media, site customization, and optimization.

SecuPress

SecuPress

This is a newly launched security plugin in the market (previously released as freemium in 2016). But it’s the one that’s overgrowing day by day. It is introduced by Julio Potier, one of the original co-founders of WP Media, who produce WP Rocket and Imagify. There are both options free and premium versions available, which include a lot of features.

It has a significant UI and easy to use interface, and so, SecuPress is the plugin that you shouldn’t miss.

The free version includes features such as anti-brute force login, blocked IPs and a firewall. Additionally, you also get the protection of your security keys as well as an element that prevents visits from bad bots.

If you want more features, then you can buy their premium version. It includes additional features such as alerts, two-factor authentication and notifications, GeoIP blocking, PHP malware scans, and PDF reports.

Some Unique Features of SecuPress

1. Even for beginners, the UI makes it very easy to use. 

2. Also, the premium version has a lot of value. It will provide 35 security points to check in 5 minutes.

3. You can change your WordPress login URL so that bots can’t find it.

4. You may also detect themes and plugins that are malicious or that have been altered to include malicious code.

Conclusion

After reading the best WordPress security tips. You might have found that each of the advice has one or the other best feature that makes it outstanding. Depending on security requirements, you can select one of the tips, with or without a plugin. And secure your WordPress website from the bad guys on the internet.

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