Taking basic efforts to safeguard a WordPress site is enough to keep it from being hacked for many WordPress sites. You may learn more about it by going to this link.
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| Prevent hackers from accessing a WordPress site |
Cybercriminals have made WordPress a popular target. Professional hackers target the theme, core WordPress files, and plugins right up to the login page.
These are the actions to take to make it less likely that you'll be hacked and to make it simpler to recover if you are.
Attacks on WordPress by Hackers
Whether it's a phpBB forum or a WordPress site, hackers are continually exploring all websites on the internet. A hacker could scan thousands of pages or attempt to log in hundreds of times each day.
That's only one of the hackers. At the same time, several hackers are assaulting websites.
It's usually not a person who is attempting to hack you. Hackers use automated tools to cruise the internet in search of specific flaws in websites.
To distinguish them from scraper bots, I refer to the program that tries to duplicate material as hacker bots.
Using a Firewall to Protect Your WordPress Site
A firewall is a piece of software that detects and stops intruders. The finest WordPress firewall, in my view, is a plugin called Word fence.
Wordfence examines a website visitor's behavior to see whether it resembles that of an aggressive bot. If the bot exceeds specified limits, such as requesting too many web pages in a short period, Wordfence will quickly prohibit it.
Wordfence is also configured to allow legitimate search engines such as Google and Bing to access the website.
There are additional tools that allow a publisher to see what bots are assaulting a site and where they are coming from, such as if the bot is originating from Amazon Web Services or Bluehost. Wordfence allows the publisher to restrict the bot based on their IP address, the full IP address range, or even the bot's phony browser user agent.
User-Agents (UAs) (UA)
A user agent is a piece of identifying information sent by a browser that tells a website what browser it is (Chrome, Firefox, or Vivaldi) and what operating system it is using (Windows 10, Mac OS X).
For example, below is a user agent string for a Mac OS X machine running Safari 11:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_11_6) Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_11_6) Mozilla/5.0 (Macinto 605.1.15 AppleWebKit (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/605.1.15 Version/11.1.2
To fool websites and obtain access, bots use a variety of user agents. For example, some bots claim to be a browser for Windows XP.
Because there are so few legal Windows XP users, I can use Wordfence to create a rule that prohibits any user agents that use Windows XP as their operating system, and with just one rule, I can prevent thousands of malicious bots regardless of their origin or IP address.
Because bad bots will occasionally respond by switching to a new user agent, a publisher can employ a combination of these limitations to block a wide range of harmful hacker bots.
And that's with Wordfence's free version.
The premium version allows you to ban whole nations. So, if you don't have any valid site visitors from a particular country, you may restrict all traffic from that country.
Exploit Protection for WordPress
Furthermore, the commercial edition of Wordfence will defend you against numerous hacked themes and plugins before they are repaired.
When Wordfence researchers become aware of an attack, they will upgrade the premium version of the firewall to protect subscribers against certain exploits, often weeks before the compromised theme or plugin vendor fixes the flaw.
Hardening the security of your website
Secure Security is a free plugin that adds an extra layer of security to your computer. Secure (owned by GoDaddy) aids in the hardening of WordPress security by preventing malicious bots from exploiting specific types of attacks. It also has a malware scanner that examines all files to determine whether they've been tampered with.
Secure will inform you every time someone logs into your site, making it easier for publishers to determine whether a hacker is logging in. Secure may also inform a publisher if a file has been updated, as hackers frequently do. Secure will inform you every time someone logs into your site, making it easier for publishers to determine whether a hacker is logging in. Secure may also inform a publisher if a file has been updated, as hackers frequently do.
The free version of Secure has the following features:
- Auditing of Security Activities
- Monitoring of the integrity of files.
- Remote Malware Scanning is a service that scans your computer for malicious software.
- Monitoring of the blacklist.
- Security Hardening that works.
- Security Measures to Take After a Hack.
- Notifications of Security.
Secure's premium version features a website firewall.
Your site's logins should be limited
Word Fence can prohibit bots that enter usernames and passwords on the WordPress login page frequently.
Limit Login Attempts Reloaded is a plugin that allows publishers to automatically prohibit any hackers who enter a certain number of unsuccessful name and password combinations.
You may, for example, set it to prohibit hackers after three failed password guesses.
The login blocker has the following features:
Keep the number of retries to a bare minimum while logging in (per each IP). This may be tailored to your preferences.
- The user is informed of the remaining retries or lockout time on the login screen.
- Logging and email notification are also accessible as options.
- IP addresses and users can be banned or whitelisted.
- Compatibility with the Secure Website Firewall.
- XMLRPC gateway security.
- Protection for the Woo commerce login page.
- Extra MU settings for multi-site compatibility.
- GDPR compliance is available. All recorded IPs are disguised when this functionality is enabled (md5-hashed).
- Custom IP sources are supported (Cloudflare, Secure, etc.)
- Limit Login Reloaded is a plugin that lets you easily stop hack bots from guessing passwords.
Your WordPress Site Should Be Back upped
It's critical to have your website backed up daily. A backup can be used to recover the site in the case of a catastrophic occurrence.
There are other backup options available, but the Updraft Plus WordPress Backup Plugin is one that I have found to be most beneficial. With over two million subscribers, Updraft Plus is a well-known choice.
It may be set up to deliver daily backups via email or to a cloud storage service like Dropbox.
I mistakenly removed all the theme layout files from a website, therefore leaving it inoperable. I was able to restore the site to its prior condition using an Updraft Plus backup. It was a simple task, for which I was glad.
All Themes and Plugins Must Be Updated
It's crucial to maintain all of your themes and plugins current. WordPress offers a function that allows all plugins to be updated automatically, which is handy for publications or businesses who don't check in or update their sites regularly.
A publisher may ensure that their application is constantly up-to-date by setting the auto-update option. Using an out-of-date plugin is one of the most popular methods to get hacked.
There are certain reasons to disable the auto-update feature, although the drawbacks are uncommon. An upgraded plugin, for example, may be incompatible with other plugins.
The auto-update function is probably a smart thing to activate for sites that don't change regularly.
Abandoned Plugins Should Be Avoided
Last but not least, some plugins have been abandoned. Even if their developer has abandoned them, certain plugins can still work. These outdated plugins may contain a security flaw. However, because they have been abandoned, they will never be repaired.
Another concern is that hackers occasionally purchase outdated plugins and infect them with malware and viruses.
Examine all of your WordPress plugins to ensure that they have not been abandoned and that they are being updated regularly.
Protect your WordPress site, hackers can destroy it
For many websites, merely following these modest measures to safeguard the site is sufficient to prevent it from being hacked. The free versions of these plugins provide a lot of security, while the premium ones provide even more security.
There are a lot of security-related plugins out there, and some of them have been revealed to have flaws. Word fence and secure are the greatest security plugins for WordPress, in my view.