• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
WPArena

WPArena

WPArena is a premium online resource site of WordPress and is focused on providing excellent WordPress Tutorials, Guides, Tips, and Collections.

  • News
    • Opinion
  • Tutorials
  • Reviews
    • Themes
    • Plugins
  • Comparisons
  • Collections
    • Education Themes
    • Genesis Child Themes
    • Best Responsive Themes
    • Medical WordPress Themes
    • Finance & Business Themes
    • Crowdfunding Themes
  • Resources
    • Inspiration
  • Services
WPArena » Tutorials » WordPress Security
WordPress Security

7 Tips to Beat the Hackers Who Want to Destroy Your WordPress Site

Avatar of Editorial Staff Editorial Staff Updated: February 22, 2020

tips to beat hackers
FacebookTweetPinLinkedInEmailPrint

Hackers are the vandals of the Internet. They get their kicks by defacing and wreaking carnage on your property, in this case, your website. That they ruin your hard work is bad enough, but when that results in a loss of income, it can be soul-destroying.

Just as a burglar will take advantage of an open window or a car thief will steal an unlocked car, a hacker will destroy your WordPress website if you give him half an opening.

Tips to Beat The Hackers

1. Find a Good Host

It all starts with your web host because that’s where your site data is stored.

Find a secure web hosting for your WordPress site that offers extras such as SSL protection and daily backups.

Look for top-class technical support and ask a few questions before you commit.

The answers you get to questions such as “How can I make my WordPress site more secure?” will tell you a lot about the attitude the support team has to security.

good hosting

The screenshot above from LCN gives you an idea of what a good host should include for free.

Avoid no-name hosts that you can find no mentions of on review sites because they may be know-nothings who are just acting as resellers for one of the big companies. However, beware of big-name companies, too, because they often get poor reviews and have low customer satisfaction ratings.

2. Set Strong Passwords

Strong passwords are the locks on your system. Nobody would ever fit a bedroom door lock to your front door, yet people do use simple passwords on their web accounts.

The longer your WordPress password is, the less likely that a password guessing machine will ever hit on it, especially if it includes non-alphanumerical characters and numbers as well as lower and upper-case letters.

Your WP password must be unique. If you use the same password as you use for your Company Z shopping account and Company Z is hacked, then the hackers have your WordPress access password and can wreak havoc on your content. Try Magic Password.

3. Install a Security Plugin

You need a premium security plugin. The difference between free and paid versions is immense, and premium plugins only cost a few dollars a month.

If you have other users with posting privileges, the only way to enforce strong passwords is by using a premium security plugin such as those from Wordfence or iThemes Security.

Any premium security plugin will have multiple setup options that make things look complicated. The default options will work for most people and are certainly better than having no protection at all. If the plugin suggests doing something, do it.

4. Check for Updates

Check your WordPress dashboard for updates every day. Plugins, themes and the core WordPress software are updated for a good reason. Often the updates are there to plug security loopholes that have been found.

5. Make Backups

Every update risks crashing your site, but postponing updates and doing them once a month is not a secure option. Backing up your entire website is a pain in the butt, so you need to make it quick and straightforward to do. Backup plugins exist, but the fastest way to a one-button backup is to install a premium backup plugin such as Updraft Plus.

6. Check Your WordPress Settings

Uncheck the ‘Anyone can register’ box in your Settings – General screen. If you must check it, then set the default user role to ‘Subscriber.’

default user role

7. Use a CDN

A free CDN (content delivery network) helps to speed up your website, but as soon as you start looking at a CDN monthly subscription model, the security features increase. Some will mitigate DDoS attacks and reduce the chance of hackers stealing your customer data.

Long Story Short

Improving WP security can be done for free. If you buy a couple of low-cost plugins you can fix every issue you will come across without seeing a line of code.

Every article you read tells a similar story: WordPress security is good, but you can make it better. The next step after following the advice here is to check out this WPArena article which goes into much more detail and walks you through improving your WordPress security step by step.

This post was orginally published on: February 15, 2018 and was updated on: February 22, 2020.
FacebookTweetPinLinkedInEmailPrint

Related Stories

  • 8 Data Security Tips when Building a Website

    8 Data Security Tips when Building a Website

  • How to Check WordPress Version Easily in Different Ways

    How to Check WordPress Version Easily in Different Ways

  • Cybersecurity tips to protect your business from online security threats

    Cybersecurity tips to protect your business from online security threats

Avatar of Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPArena is a team of WordPress experts led by Jazib Zaman. Page maintained by Jazib Zaman.

Reader Interactions

Join the Discussion
  1. Avatar of Manthan BhavsarManthan Bhavsar says

    February 19, 2018

    Thanks for sharing an awesome blog post with us WP ARENA…! I have read the full blog & it’s great information about How to protect WP website from Hackers. All points are very helpful for WordPress Developers.

    Reply

Share Your Thoughts Cancel reply

Before submitting your comment, we kindly ask that you read our comment policy. Your email address will remain confidential and will not be published or shared anywhere. If you subscribe, you will receive notifications regarding new comments.

Primary Sidebar

How to Customize Thumbnail and Crop images in WordPress

WordPress Installation

How To Write Post in WordPress 2.6

Recent Topics

  • Top Premium WordPress Plugins & Themes
  • How to Improve WordPress Navigation Menu
  • Publishing Blog Posts via Email: WordPress and Blogger
  • Ultimate Guide to Managing WordPress Multi Sites
  • 27 Top SEO Companies in the World

Footer

Top

  • Services
  • Our Themes
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin

Reviews

  • Beaver Builder Review
  • Beaver Themer Review
  • WP User Frontend Pro
  • Ninja Forms Review
  • MemberPress Review

More Reviews »

Resources

  • Best WordPress Plugins
  • WordPress Permalinks Structure
  • Email Management System
  • Envato Free Files
  • Advertise
  • Write for us
  • Disclosure
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 · All Rights Reserved · WPArena is a Project of TechAbout LLC.
We are not affiliated with Automattic or WordPress.

  • Advertise
  • Write for us
  • Disclosure
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Contact
Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!