Many website owners express concerns about the security of WordPress. Some even question if WordPress is secure. An open source script is believed to be susceptible to a variety of attacks. Is that true? When that’s the case, how do you protect your WordPress website?

WordPress websites are actually considerably more secure than their counterparts online, which can occasionally be the case.

1. Work solely with respectable hosts

You should only cooperate with trustworthy, excellent, and secure hosting. It seems obvious to give this advise, right?

Most people assume their web hosting service is fantastic until anything goes wrong for the first time. There are differences between various hosting providers and businesses in the actual world.

Some hosts simply aren’t up to grade and struggle under pressure. We have a video here on how to choose the right hosting provider for your needs:

2. Turn off directory listing with .htaccess

You might be shocked to learn that your visitors can view a complete directory listing of everything in a directory that you establish as part of your website but do not include an index.html page in.

To see everything in a directory named “data,” for instance, enter the address http://www.example.com/data/ into your browser. Nothing, not even a password, is required.

By including the next line of code in your .htaccess file, you can stop this:

All Options -Indexes

3. Protect the wp-config.php file

The wp-config.php file holds important information about your WordPress installation, and it’s the most important file in your site’s root directory. Protecting it entails safeguarding your WordPress blog’s foundation.

This method makes things difficult for hackers to breach the security of your site, since the wp-config.php file becomes inaccessible to them.

To secure the website at the hosting level in such a situation, altering file and directory permissions is a wise approach. The entire file system, including directories, subdirectories, and individual files, is protected by setting the directory permissions to “755” and the file permissions to “644”.

The “chmod” command can be used at the terminal (connected through SSH) or manually through the File Manager in your hosting control panel.

4. Prohibit editing of files

No one will be able to change any of the files if you forbid file editing, even if a hacker gains admin access to your WordPress dashboard.

To do this, add the following to the wp-config.php file (at the very end):

define”DISALLOW FILE EDIT,” true

5. Login using your email

By default, in order to log into WordPress, you must enter your login. It is more secure to use an email ID rather than a username. The causes are pretty clear. While email IDs are difficult to predict, usernames are not. Additionally, each WordPress user account should be created with a special email address, making it a recognized login method.

6. Change your passwords

Try different passwords and update them frequently to keep your WordPress website secure. Make your passwords longer and more complex to increase their strength.

7. To encrypt data, employ SSL.

One wise decision to safeguard the admin panel is to implement an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate. Because SSL enables secure data transfer, it is more difficult for hackers to compromise the connection or forge your data. Choosing to go with a hosting provider like RackNerd will provide you with a free SSL certificate automatically.

It’s easy to obtain an SSL certificate for your WordPress website. You can get one from a third-party vendor or see if your hosting provider offers one for no cost.

8. Keep the wp-admin directory secure.

Protect the wp-admin directory with a password. A WordPress security mechanism like this allows the website owner to log in using two different passwords. The login page is safeguarded by one, and the WordPress admin section is protected by the other. You can utilize a free plugin such as Secure WP Admin for this.

9. Make sure your database has secure passwords.

Since WordPress utilizes this password to access the database, the principal database user must have a secure password. You can verify the MySQL database password in the wp-config.php file.

10. Make sure your web hosting provider includes daily backups

Backups are important and provide you with the ultimate peace of mind. With that being said, it’s always a good idea to make sure that your hosting provider includes daily off-site backups. Additionally, make sure you can actually view, access, and download the backups at any given time, don’t just take their word for it! RackNerd includes daily off-site backups powered by JetBackup & Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage at no additional charge with all of our shared & reseller hosting services, and we include 30 days retention (meaning you can restore your site from a backup as old as 30 days prior!).

If you are looking for a web hosting provider that is secure and optimized for WordPress, check out RackNerd’s server hosting solutions below.