Managing and running a hosted WordPress website all by yourself is not an easy task. In order to manage your WordPress website you need to carefully choose a host and have to make sure that your website loads smoothly. Best wordpress hosting offers many advantages, some of them are that it is open source nature, the huge community of contributors, and the huge marketplace dedicated to WordPress services.
However, it also comes with several risks and vulnerabilities just like other websites and online systems. WordPress does not come with in-built security system; therefore, it becomes crucial to monitor it and install plugins to protect it from attacks.
Security Vulnerabilities are and Why it needs to be taken into Account?
When we talk about online platforms and the risks attached to it the very first thing that comes in our mind is hacking. That’s true, security vulnerabilities occur because your website or site host are unprotected and hackers or attackers can easily steal your data or even cause damage to your website. These vulnerabilities occur due to lack of security controls over visitors or when you have installed insecure plugins. Researchers have found that more than 90,000 attacks occur against WordPress sites after every minute.
4 WordPress Security Vulnerabilities and How to Resolve Them?
In order to protect your sites and visitor interactions, it is important to understand the types of vulnerabilities that you might be exposed to and what measures should be taken to overcome it. Let’s discuss the top 4 WordPress security vulnerabilities and some measures to manage these risks.
1. Insecure WordPress logins:
WordPress login is often a target for attackers as it provides an access to your site administration dashboard. If attackers are able to have your credentials, they will be able to control your site. There is a huge possibility that this type of risks occurs when you possess and insecure or weak admin password. In order to prevent these attacks, you need to have a secure password and try to change it sporadically. You should generate your password through password generator and try to enable two-factor authentication, with this hacker won’t be able to access your account and you will be notified if someone tries to login your account.
2. Outdated themes and plugins:
When you add themes, plugin or any sort of application to your site, vulnerabilities are often introduced to your site through this. It often happens when your developers are fixing bugs or adding new features and when you do not update your components. In order to avoid attackers, it is important to update your components and keep a track of current versions, if you can enable automatic updates for your site’s components you should avail IT Consultant Australia’s WordPress Hosting as it provides the facility of automatic updates.
3. Incorrect WordPress permissions:
When WordPress site is created, you need to create an administrator account, and you also need to create user accounts. These accounts have a set of permissions assigned to them that allows them what they can or cannot do to your site. When you set these permissions, carefully allow the users according to their need. When assigning permissions make sure that you allow users with the least possible permissions or role. Permissions can be changed, but it is very hard to overcome the damage caused by visitors or users with high level of permissions granted to them.
4. Running your Website on HTTPs:
A specialized Hypertext Transport Protocol – HTTP method is used to connect your website to user’s browser. This connection is accessible to any user and it does not require any authentication. As HTTP is not protected, it’s very easy for attackers to intercept requests that are often made by visitors of your site. In order to prevent attackers from changing and manipulating user requests, you need to enable HTTPS. It is a modification of HTTP and includes several security features used for encryption or hiding information, mainly the users request. This will prevent attackers from gaining access to user’s request, modifying data or reading information. This feature will ensure that only your website server or browser is making the request to have access. HTTPS is very important when you are running an online business through eCommerce site. Nowadays many users are unwilling to purchase products from a non-HTTPS site, because it is very risky otherwise to make online payments through credit cards.
