How to Prevent Your WordPress Site from Being Hacked

How to Prevent Your WordPress Site from Being Hacked

Hacking is at an all-time high. Some hackers are after sensitive information such as credit card numbers or social security numbers while other hackers may install malicious software or alter code to redirect users to a different site.

Unfortunately no one is protected 100% from hackers. You may have heard that major companies like Home Depot, Sony and even the U.S. Postal Service had their data compromised within the last year.

Although no site is guaranteed against hacking, there are some steps that you can take to significantly decrease the odds. Remember, like other thieves, hackers are more likely to steal information from sites that make it easy for them. So what can you do to prevent your WordPress site from being compromised?

Do Updates on a Regular Basis

WordPress core, plugins and themes are always being updated. Some of these updates are created to simply improve WordPress and/or plugins and provide new features.

Other updates may include a security patch. For example, a hacker may have found a “back door” through a plugin due to the way the code was written for that plugin. This “back door” could give hackers access to your site files or log in information. For this reason, developers will come out with security updates to patch these holes.

Leaving WordPress, plugins and themes out of date just makes it all the more easy for hackers to compromise your site.

At a minimum site owners should log in to WordPress once a month to make sure everything is up to date.

Note: Updating a commercial theme (any theme other than the WordPress default themes) may require web design experience. Please contact your web designer before doing this type of update.

Use Encrypted Passwords

Another way that hackers find their way into your site is by trying different usernames and passwords until they are successful at logging in. So simple passwords like “wordpress123” are a huge no no.

Hackers are not sitting there crossing their fingers typing in different character combinations, they are using sophisticated password-cracking software that runs a script to repeatedly guess your password.

It is crucial to create passwords that are a minimum of 8-10 characters including upper and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters.

You should also avoid the username “admin” since hackers are aware that this is the default username for WordPress.

Be Vigilant

Always be on the look out for new or unfamiliar users in the WordPress admin. This is an indication that a hacker was able to create an account for themselves and your site has been compromised.

You can also be proactive by installing security plugins that limit log in attempts, or notifiy you of any attempted log ins from IP addresses other than your own.

You may be interested in signing up for our WordPress maintenance program. This program includes us logging in once a month and updating WordPress and plugins. We update theme files every 6 months if an update is available and install security plugins to help minimize the potential of your site getting hacked. Click on the link below to lean more.

Spyder Byte Media WordPress Yearly Maintenance Program