Keeping the Intruders Away from Your WordPress Website

It is quite a well-known fact that WordPress is one of the easiest CMS platform, but how well it caters to the security needs is not that commonly known to its users. Truth is that it can be very secure, but it depends on how well the developers handle security. Everything is available, but whether they are using those methods or not is dependent on users demand and developer’s capabilities. There are some tips and tricks which can help the WordPress developers to make the website secure from intruders:

1.  Selection of username:
The username should be carefully selected and popular usernames like admin, user123 etc. should never be chosen. Only those usernames should be chosen which are very difficult to guess even for an experienced hacker. If you have already created an account with admin username, you can delete it and create an alternate account.

2.  Modifying the prefix of the database:
If we don’t change the name of the tables specifically, WordPress automatically appends the database table names with wp_. You can change this setting while installing the WordPress. 

3.  Use of Firewall is a must:
Firewall is one of the most important and popular ways of protecting the website. There are various firewall plugins available for WordPress. It is advisable to invest some money in paid plugins for better safety, but if you not to use paid ones, then some free plugins are also available. A popular example of a free WordPress firewall plugin is WordFence.

4.  Timely backups:
Though regular backups cannot prevent the attacks from happening, but it is a way to avoid the impact of a threat in case something goes wrong. You should keep the backup of the website in a different location from the server where the website is hosted. The backup should be taken timely and frequently.

5.  Managing the users:
For any website, there are more user accounts other than the admin account. Maintaining their access level rights is very important. This will prevent any internal threats and will also prevent the ignorant users to commit any mistakes. The users should also be given some basic instructions to manage their account safely. For example, their passwords should have a combination of special characters and numbers. They should logout properly once their work is done- this will prevent from having any open sessions. If the users are aware of the basic security practices, then half the work is done.

These are some of the basic ways by which the security of the website can be maintained. There are lots of other practices that must be followed. If the users are aware, then there are lots of ways by which the WordPress website can be protected. You can have a look at the plugin list which is available for use for the WordPress users and choose the one which best suits your needs.