Your Essential Website Security Checklist: Stop WordPress Hackers in Their Tracks

Jonesen TeamIndustry Insights

WordPress is a fantastic resource for building a website. It’s so popular that WordPress powers 30% of all websites.

Thinking about building a WordPress site–or hiring someone else to help–is a great idea. But great-looking themes and plugins are the least of your concerns.

To build a truly great site, you’ll need to make sure your website is secure. Keep reading for a quick website security checklist so you can keep hackers at bay.

Strong Admin Usernames and Passwords

While technology is quite advanced, our choice of passwords…well, that’s a different story. The top five passwords of last year were as follows:

  • 123456
  • password
  • 123456789
  • 12345678
  • 12345

With passwords like those, is it any wonder why there are so many cyber-attacks?

The first thing any WordPress user should do is secure their password and username. Choose a name and password that would be hard to guess. Use numbers and letters, and throw in some punctuation for good measure.

Two-Factor Authentication

A strong username and password are great starts, but criminals are sneaky. As such, you’ll need to know if someone is attempting to access your account.

The only way to know before it’s too late is to enable two-factor authentication, which sends a notification along with a unique key each time you log-in. Without that key, hackers can’t get in.

Move from HTTP to HTTPS

Have you ever noticed that some sites use the prefix ‘HTTP’ while others use ‘HTTPS’? Believe it or not, there is a difference.

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. Sites that use it feature an extra layer of security, including encryption.

HTTPS is particularly useful for eCommerce sites, as it keeps financial data secure.

A Secure Theme

Picking a theme that matches your website’s vision and goal can be exciting and fun. But if you pick the wrong theme, it can also be a disaster.

As you start to peruse the selection of themes, keep your selection limited to certified sites. WordPress has its own directory of approved themes that they can vouch for.

Note that a secure theme isn’t a replacement for any of the other security features we’ve listed above. It’s just the icing on the proverbial cake.

Updated Plugins

Plugins make WordPress easier to use. You can find widgets that help with everything from content optimization to analytics.

However, it’s crucial that you stay up to date on your plugins’ firmware updates. Most patches fix holes in the previous firmware’s security.

The good news is that keeping your plugins up to date is as easy as can be. You can enable automatic updates through the dashboard or select individual updates via the admin panel.

Use This Website Security Checklist to Keep Your Data Safe

Security is a serious matter. And by following the website security checklist above, you can make sure that your information, as well as your users’ info, is safe and secure.

Need help putting together that gorgeous WordPress site? We’re here for you! Contact us today to learn more.