I know how crucial it is to keep your website up and running without any interruption or cyber-attacks. That’s why in this week’s newsletter, I want to share some key strategies to help you protect your WordPress site from potential threats.
As a business owner, you can take several measures to minimize the risk of cyber threats and attacks. You can either implement them yourself or delegate to your virtual assistant.
Here are five important WordPress security measures that you need to consider:
User ID
One of the most crucial steps you can take to enhance your WordPress security is by having a unique user ID.
Many entrepreneurs and small businesses make the mistake of setting up their administration user ID as “admin” or something similar.
Even using your company name can be a mistake, as these usernames are easily guessable by hackers, making your website a potential target for attacks.
To add an extra layer of protection to your site, it’s essential to change your user ID to something unique and difficult to guess.
By doing this, you make it harder for hackers to gain access to your site, reducing the risk of cyber-attacks.
Take some time to update your user ID to something that only you or your team would know.
It may seem like a small step, but it can go a long way in enhancing your WordPress security.
Strong Passwords
In addition to having a unique user ID, having a strong password is also crucial for enhancing your WordPress security.
What makes a strong password?
A strong password should be at least 12 characters long and include a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. It’s important to avoid using easily guessable information, such as your name, birthdate, or common words. These types of passwords are easy to crack, and your site becomes vulnerable.
Install a Firewall
A firewall is a piece of software that runs behind the scenes to protect your website. For WordPress, a common and popular plugin, Wordfence Security, is an excellent firewall.
It scans your website for viruses and malware and acts as a barrier between your site and the outside world, blocking known malicious IP addresses and preventing unauthorized access.
Wordfence Security allows you to set timeouts to limit the amount of time a user can attempt to log in and prevent repeated login attempts.
Regular Off-Site Backups
By backing up your site off-site, you can quickly restore your site to a previous state in case of a security breach or other issue.
It’s essential to back up your site regularly to ensure that you have a recent and accurate copy of your site.
Keep backups on a separate drive and location than your website. Ideas are to configure the backup software to store on Google Drive or Dropbox.
This way, if your website is unavailable due to the machine it’s stored on, you still have access to your backup.
Keep Your Site Updated
Developers regularly release updates that include security patches, so it’s essential to install them as soon as they become available.
Outdated plugins and themes can leave your site vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
As a business owner or entrepreneur, you can take several measures to minimize the security risks of your website.
In many cases, these steps can be handled by your virtual assistant.
I’m always looking for new topics and ideas around website development .. send me an email with your questions.
