WordPress Security: Is it WordPress? Or is it Poor Site Management?

If you run a WordPress site you may already know how vulnerable it is to exploits. Though WordPress itself gets a bad rap as a target for hackers, the real problem may not be WordPress, but instead, how it’s managed. Owning a WordPress website comes with a few critical management responsibilities. If those aren’t followed ritually, your website is vulnerable to exploits. Is this a WordPress problem or a website management problem? Before you dive head first into putting up a website, be sure you understand how to maintain its safety on the web, otherwise an intrusion from unwanted visitors is likely.

Login Username and Password

Brute force attacks on login credentials are just one of a few ways undesirables worm their way into a WordPress website. Figuring out someone’s email address is easy. Once they have that they are halfway there. Still using “Admin” as your user name? Fairly easy guess, wouldn’t you say, even for the novice delinquent. Change your username, password and get strict on your lockouts.  iThemes security plugin for WordPress, will ease you thru a set of baseline security measures and provide a whole screen full of security tightening tools and customization options. Choose the site generated password, the longer and more complicated – the better. Since Google is a great password keeper, this shouldn’t be a problem for most.

Keep a Tidy Site

PHP Exploits pose another security risk for a WordPress website. Be sure to remove any plugins that aren’t being used and always keep the active ones updated to the most recent version. iThemes security plugin has some additional features for PHP that you could also try if interested. In case something does happen, don’t sweat it just yet. It may be less invasive than you think. Try not to panic and delete everything. Unless you have made changes to the WordPress template you can easily reinstall a fresh version in case anything happens without disrupting your theme template files.

iThemes Security Plugin

Using a security plugin with WordPress is strongly recommended. As previously mentioned, iThemes security has an excellent free plugin that allows you to tailor the settings of several security features on your WordPress site. For example, you can set maximum attempt levels for login and page requests, including lock out time lengths. And for those who are ready to wage war on the technical termites, there’s an IP blocker in case you want to permanently eradicate them. You can block a whole range of IP’s or just a few in an instant. Always look up IP’s before blocking them. You don’t want to accidentally block the google bot from your site. That will prove problematic since google won’t be able to crawl your website. But think about this: At this very moment undesirables are attempting to break into your site. Besides carefully securing your website you’ll also want to lower the number of break-in attempts.

Extended Lockouts

These hackers may loiter on your website for hours using up bandwidth and making one attempt after another to invade your files. If given the free reign, they will eventually be successful. Set longer lockout times, where it’s safe. You can always remove someone you permanently blocked -if an error occurs. Be careful if you run a multi-user site. If one of your users enters an incorrect password they could be locked out for an hour. Deleting their ip address from the blocked list in the database will quickly remedy an erroneous lockout and allow them access to the admin page again.

Cheap Hosting

Cheap hosting ends up costing you more in the long run. This is one of those lessons you don’t want to learn the hard way. Saving an extra buck now isn’t worth it in the end. Go with a reputable company or opt for specialized WordPress hosting. Bluehost or iThemes are two reputable companies that offer specialized hosting for WordPress sites. Both provide excellent support, and a myriad of options as well as a secure environment. But remember, you are still responsible as a website owner, to maintain updates, back-ups and tidiness for maximum safety. For example, installing a plugin from an unknown source is a risk. Weighing your risk vs benefit when it comes to managing your site is part of the responsibilities as a WordPress website owner. Don’t worry it’s not as hard as it sounds. By checking how many others have downloaded the plugin or what others have said about it, you can get a pretty good idea on it’s safety. Just make sure it’s compatible with your version of WordPress and that it is still supported by the developer.

Cloud Based Services Manage Security For You

One of the benefits of cloud based apps is their management of a security protocol. Taking the burden from the user is a feature we often take for granted. For inventory management, cloud based software like Zenventory will manage all the risk so you don’t have to. Nowadays, that’s a full-time job. If you’d rather let somebody else manage the headache of security, choose cloud-based apps where possible in your business.