Ways To Secure Your WordPress Site Against Cyber Attacks

Is your WordPress site vulnerable to cyber attacks?

Cyber attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent, and WordPress sites are often targeted due to their popularity and vulnerability to security breaches.

The good news is that there are several effective ways to secure your WordPress site and safeguard your valuable data.

Let’s explore different strategies and techniques you can implement to enhance the security of your WordPress site.

Don’t wait until it’s too late to protect your valuable content and user data.

What is WordPress?

WordPress1 is a popular content management system (CMS) used by millions of websites around the globe.

The blogging tool was initially released in 2003 and has grown to become the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world. It is utilised on numerous sites and accessed by a vast number of individuals on a daily basis.

WordPress is an open-source project, meaning hundreds of people worldwide are working on it, continually improving it and adding new features.

Understanding the Risks

Despite its numerous advantages, WordPress sites can be vulnerable to cyber attacks2, just like any other site on the internet. This is primarily due to its popularity – with so many users, it’s a tempting target for hackers.

Some of the most common threats include malware attacks, where harmful software is installed on your website without your knowledge to steal information or disrupt your site’s operations.

Another threat is brute force attacks, where hackers attempt to gain access to your site by trying numerous combinations of usernames and passwords until they find a match. There are also Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, where your site is overwhelmed with traffic from multiple sources, causing it to crash.

One example is a recent cyberattack campaign in April 20233, in which over 1 million WordPress websites have been infected with malware. 

The campaign, known as the Balad Injector, has been ongoing since 2017 and is designed to redirect users to various online scams, including fake tech support pages, lottery scams, and push notification fraud. 

Why Is WordPress Security Important?

Impact of Hacking on Website User Experience

When a WordPress website is compromised due to inadequate security measures, the user experience is significantly affected. Hackers can inject malicious code, redirect users to other sites, or even completely take over the website’s appearance and functionality.

This can lead to visitors encountering errors, slow loading times, or inappropriate content. This negative experience can decrease user satisfaction and lead to a loss of traffic and potential customers.

Data Breaches

Data breaches pose a significant risk to WordPress websites, particularly those handling sensitive user information such as credit card details, addresses, and passwords.

In the event of a data breach, this information can be stolen and used for fraudulent activities. This can lead to significant financial loss and potential legal consequences for the website owner.

It can also lead to loss of user trust. If users feel their personal information is unsafe on your website, they will likely stop using your services and may even warn others against it. 

Downtime

If your site is hacked, it could be taken offline entirely or malfunction. This downtime can lead to a loss of revenue, especially for e-commerce sites where every minute of downtime directly impacts sales.

In addition to lost revenue, downtime also affects your site’s SEO. Search engines penalise sites with frequent downtime, leading to lower rankings in search results.

Overall Reputation and Revenue

The security of your WordPress site directly impacts your brand’s reputation and revenue. A secure website is a sign of a trustworthy business. If your site is compromised, it can lead to negative publicity and a damaged reputation.

Furthermore, the cost of fixing a hacked site, loss of revenue during downtime, potential legal liabilities from data breaches, and worse, loss of business due to damaged reputation can be substantial.

Ways to Secure Your WordPress Site

Keeping Your WordPress Site Updated

An updated WordPress site4 provides new features and improvements and includes patches for security vulnerabilities. These update patches are crucial in protecting your site from known threats and potential cyber-attacks, ensuring that your site remains secure and functioning optimally.

However, while updates are critical, they can sometimes disrupt the functionality of your site if not done correctly. For instance, an update could be incompatible with your site’s theme or specific plugins, causing your site to malfunction or even go offline.

Thus, it is crucial to back up the site at regular intervals, which is explained in the next point.

Backing Up Your Site Regularly

One primary reason to back up your site is to minimise the potential downtime your website may experience in case of a cyber attack.

Storing a backup of your site allows you to quickly restore it to its normal functioning state, minimising the time your website remains inaccessible to users.

It also means that you always have a recent version of your site to restore from, ensuring that any changes or updates made to your site are not lost.

Login Protection

One way to enhance the security of a WordPress site’s login process is by implementing Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). This adds an extra layer of protection by requiring users to provide two different authentication factors to verify their identity.

Typically, the first factor is something the user knows (like their password), and the second factor is something the user has (like a unique code sent to their smartphone). This means that even if a cybercriminal learns a user’s password, they still couldn’t access the site without the second authentication factor.

It is also essential to limit the number of failed login attempts a user can make. After a certain number of failed attempts, the user account can be temporarily locked, or the IP address can be blocked.

File and Database Security

The wp-config.php5 file holds critical information about the website’s database. This includes the database name, host, username, and password, making it a common target for hackers.

Therefore, it is critical to safeguard this file by placing it outside the web root folder and setting the correct file permissions, ensuring its content is inaccessible to malicious users.

The WordPress core team regularly releases updates to fix these vulnerabilities and improve overall site security. Hence, it is recommended to enable auto-updates for WordPress. 

Scanning for Malicious Code and Backdoors

There are various options available to conduct malware scanning.

WordPress security plugins can automatically scan and monitor your site for suspicious activities or code. Among these, experts deem Wordfence Security and All In One WP Security & Firewall highly effective.

Online scanners are another alternative, which can scan your site for malicious code from the outside.

However, note that these methods are not fool-proof and should be accompanied by other security measures for comprehensive protection.

Implement SSL Certificates

SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is a protocol that encrypts the data transferred between a web server and a browser, ensuring the privacy and integrity of the transmitted information.

When SSL is employed, the standard HTTP protocol expands to HTTPS, where the ‘S’ stands for ‘secure’. This means that all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted, making it difficult for cyber attackers to intercept or tamper with the data.

This can be done through the web host settings as they tend to offer one-click installation of SSL certificates.

Selecting a Reputable Hosting Provider

A quality hosting provider should constantly update its services to incorporate the latest security features and fix any vulnerabilities. This ensures that your website is always protected against the latest threats.

Also, look for a provider that offers automatic backups and easy restore options. Finally, consider the support provided by the hosting provider. They should provide 24/7 support from experts who can assist you in case of any security issues.

Most importantly, a reputable host should have expert support to help you set up and configure WordPress security settings.

At Grayscale, we believe in taking the extra step to ensure that your data is always safe and secure. 

We have an experienced team of professionals who can guide you through the process of protecting your WordPress site against potential cyber-attacks.

Reach out to us at enquiries@grayscale.my so we can assist you in securing your WordPress site today.

References

1 Mullenweg, M., & Little, M. (2023, June 26). What is WordPress? A Beginner’s Guide (FAQs + Pros and Cons). WPBeginner. Retrieved August 25, 2023, from https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/what-is-wordpress/ 

2 M., W. (2023, July 13). 10 Most Common WordPress Security Issues + Solutions. Hostinger. Retrieved August 25, 2023, from https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/wordpress-security-issues 

3 Cyber Security News. (2023, April 11). Balada Injector – Massive Ongoing WordPress Malware Infected Over 1 Million Websites. Cyber Security News. Retrieved August 25, 2023, from https://cybersecuritynews.com/wordpress-websites-infected/ 

4 Inmotion Hosting. (2022, May 25). Top 15 Ways To Secure A WordPress Site. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2023, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/secure-wordpress-site-inmotion-spcs/448266/ 

5 Astra Security. (2023, June 4). [DIY] Learn How to Secure WP-Config File In 5 Minutes. Astra Security. Retrieved August 25, 2023, from https://www.getastra.com/blog/wordpress-security-course/how-to-secure-wp-config-file/