Avoid Lock Outs and Protect Yourself from WordPress Hackers

If you haven’t already experienced a lockout or hacker intrusion, you are one of the lucky ones. The effects of hacking are not minor, they can bring down your entire operation, cause you to lose all of your work. Don’t put securing up your website at the bottom of your to do list or it might be too late. Let’s look at some things you can do to make sure your site is secure. 

#1 Start by Creating Solid Passwords

One of the easiest ways to get through a site’s security is with their password.  Many people put off creating solid passwords because they claim they take too much time, but think about the time it will take to try to rebuild all your hard work.

* Every password on every site should be different

* Every password should be at least 15 characters 

* A password is strongest if it is not a real word

* Use a mix of capital letters, lowercase letters, special characters and numbers.

Your password is your first line of defense against hackers, so make sure it’s strong. Never write your passwords down, they should always be kept in your head or you can use password manager software. 

#2 Make Sure Your Site is Up to Date

WordPress has a lot of updates, too many people don’t bother getting all of these updates, and many of them fix security breaches and bugs, as well as providing the latest features. Sure, it’s hard to stay ahead of the hackers, but taking every step possible makes good sense. 

#3 Change Your WordPress User Name

When you set up your WordPress account, you will get a default login username of admin. You need a good username with a strong password. 

#4 Protect Yourself from Brute Force Attacks

You may not be aware, but almost every website receives more than a couple hundred unauthorized login attempts every single day and that includes your website. To guard against a brute force attack make sure you have put into place all of the suggestions. You can also install “limit login attempts,’ a plugin for WordPress users that will lock out the hacker after a certain number of failed logins. 

#5 Monitor for Malware

You must be constantly monitoring your site for malware. WordFence is a good solution for your WordPress site and it’s even free. Sucuri is another solution, but it’s a paid program, and it has additional features.

by David Simon