What do we associate with the word “hacker?” Personally I imagine Elliot from Mr Robot running around and hacking into big corporation data in a gambit to change world order for the greater good. However, in reality, the truth is hackers are mainly out there for the money. 30,000 new websites are attacked daily and if you aren’t taking the correct precautions to protect your website, then you could find yourself passing malicious code out like sweets at a children’s party. But never fear, here are two valuable tips on how to protect your website if you're using WordPress.
1) Update!
Always, always, always update your website. WordPress is open-source and although this is definitely a positive as it means it is easily accessible to the masses, it means that because people can develop it freely, bugs and security vulnerabilities crop up frequently. New updates will fix these issues and therefore make your site much more secure. However, if these bugs are common knowledge to the public, then they are common knowledge to the hackers. And so the hackers will find another way into a site, which will result in needing another update. Therefore, updating WordPress is definitely crucial in keeping your website safe.
2) Plugins
One of the benefits to using a CMS like WordPress means that you have the option to install plugins from a catalogue of thousands. There is a plugin for everything, including reinforcement for your site. For instance, The iThemes Security Pro plugin:
Gives you the option to make your admin box disappear during certain hours of the day.
Will email you if there is an intruder trying to remove or change files.
It will lock IP addresses out associated with bots.
It will limit the amount of login attempts before locking an intruder out.
It will even make admins or anyone else using your site have a strong password.
It is definitely worth having a research of all the different WordPress plugins out there to provide a bit more peace of mind when it comes to safety.
