Looking for WordPress Website Security?

1. Rename your login URL to secure your WordPress website

Changing the URL of access is an easy thing to do. By default, you can easily access the WordPress login page via wp-login.php or wp-admin added to the site’s main URL.


When hackers know the direct URL of your login page, they can try to force their brute force. They try to log in with their GWDb (Guess Work Database, which is a database of guessed user names and passwords, for example username: admin and password: p @ ssword … with millions of such combinations).


At this point, we have already limited users’ login attempts and exchanged usernames for email IDs. Now we can replace the URL of access and get rid of 99% of the brute-force attacks.

This little trick prevents an unauthorized entity from accessing the login page. Only someone with the exact URL can do it. Furthermore, the iThemes Security plugin can help you change your access URLs. So:

o Change wp-login.php into something unique; for example. my_new_login

or Change / wp-admin / a something unique; for example. my_new_admin


o Change /wp-login.php?action=register into something unique; for example. my_new_registeration

 

2. Use your email to login

As a matter of course, you should include your username to sign into WordPress. Utilizing an email ID rather than a username is a progressively secure methodology. The reasons are self-evident. Usernames are anything but difficult to anticipate, while email IDs are most certainly not. Additionally, any WordPress client account is made with an exceptional email address, making it a substantial identifier for signing in.


A few security modules enable you to set up login pages with the goal that all clients must utilize their email delivers to sign in.

3. Use 2-factor authentication

The introduction of a 2-factor authentication module (2FA) on the login page is another good security measure. In this case, the user provides access details for two different components. The website owner decides what those two are. It can be a normal password followed by a secret question, a secret code, a character set or more popular, the Google Authenticator app, which sends a secret code to the phone. In this way, only the person with your phone (you) can access your site.


I prefer to use a secret code while I distribute 2FA on any of my websites. The Google Authenticator plugin helps me in just a few clicks.

4. Set up a website lockdown feature and ban users

A blocking feature for failed access attempts can solve the huge problem of continuous attempts at brute force. Whenever a hacking attempt occurs with incorrect repetitive passwords, the site is blocked and this unauthorized activity is notified.

I discovered that the iThemes Security plugin is one of the best plugins of this type, and I’ve been using it for quite some time. The plugin has a lot to offer in this regard. Along with over 30 other fantastic security measures, you can specify many failed login attempts before the plug-in will prohibit the attacker’s IP address.

5. Screen your files

If you want more security, check the changes to your website’s files via plug-ins like Wordfence, or even iThemes Security.

6. Change the admin username

When installing WordPress, you never need to choose “admin” as the username for your primary admin account. An easy-to-guess username is accessible to hackers. All they need is to understand the password, so your whole website ends up in the wrong hands.

I cannot tell you how many times I browsed through my website logs and found login attempts with the username “admin”.


The iThemes Security plug-in can stop these attempts by immediately banning any IP address that attempts to access that username.

7. Add user accounts with care

If you manage a WordPress blog, or rather a blog with multiple authors, you need to manage more people accessing your administration panel. This could make your website more vulnerable to security threats.


You can use a plugin like Force Strong Passwords if you want to make sure that the passwords that users make are safe. This is only a precautionary measure, but it is better than having different users with weak passwords.

8. Use SSL to encrypt data

Implementing an SSL certificate (Secure Socket Layer) is a smart move to protect the administration panel. SSL ensures the secure transfer of data between users’ browsers and the server, making it difficult for hackers to break the connection or spoof your information.

Getting an SSL certificate for your WordPress website is simple. You can buy one from a third-party company or check if your hosting company provides one for free.

I use the free Let’s Encrypt open source SSL certificate on most of my sites. Any good hosting company like SiteGround offers a free certificate Let’s Encrypt SSL with its hosting packages.


The SSL certificate also affects the Google rankings of your website. Google tends to classify sites with SSL higher than those without. This means more traffic. Now who does not want it?

9. Defend the wp-admin directory

The wp-admin directory is the heart of any WordPress website. Therefore, if this part of your site is violated, the whole site may be damaged.

One way to avoid this is to password protect the wp-admin directory. With this security measure, the website owner can access the dashboard by sending two passwords. One protects the login page and the other protects the WordPress administration area. If users of the website are required to access certain parts of wp-admin, those parts can be unlocked by blocking the rest.


You can use the AskApache Password Protect plugin to protect the administration area. Automatically generates a .htpasswd file, encrypts the password, and configures the correct permissions for the security files.

10. Automatically log idle users out of your site

Users who leave your WordPress site open on their screens can pose a serious security threat. Any passerby can change the information on your website, change a person’s user account or even completely violate the site. You can avoid this by ensuring that your site logs out of people after they have been inactive for a certain period.


You can configure it using a plugin like BulletProof security. This plugin allows you to set a custom time limit for inactive users, after which they will be automatically disconnected.

11. Change your passwords

Play with your passwords and change them regularly to protect your WordPress website. Improve their strength by adding uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. Many people opt for long passphrases because they are almost impossible to predict for hackers but easier to remember than a group of random numbers and letters.

LastPass is one of the easiest ways to get your passwords. Not only will it generate secure passwords for you, but it will store them in an add-on to your browser, which will prevent you from having to remember them.