All websites are vulnerable to attacks by hackers who can leave malware or wreak havoc in other ways on your website. 

Even websites with the best security can get breached — just look up high-profile websites that have been hacked and you’ll see the results include anything from government sites to popular brands.

We can follow some best practices below to protect our WordPress website and at least make it more difficult for hackers to take over.

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Don’t use easy passwords

Many WordPress websites that get hacked often use weak passwords that are easy to guess. Hackers use automated software to guess passwords through trial and error. 

In what’s called a brute force attack, they can quickly cycle through hundreds of words in order to crack your login details and enter your website. 

Using a password manager to come up with complex passwords can help you avoid this situation.

Have a firewall

FIrewalls are a way to add a protective layer around your website as they can detect vulnerabilities and block certain attacks. 

A good security plugin usually includes this so use this where possible.

Keep WordPress and plugins updated

One common way to get hacked is where your plugins have been left without being updated especially when there are vulnerabilities identified.

Keeping them up to date allows security patches to be applied and stop any potential breaches.

Use SSL and HTTPS

Having a Secure Socket Layer (or SSL) certificate installed on your website as well as using https instead of http to access your website makes it more secure as communications gets encrypted traveling back and forth to your site.

As a result, even if a hacker was to see this communication they would not be able to do anything with it. Most good web hosting provides an SSL certificate.

Monitor user accounts

It is a good idea to especially check your registered admin user accounts to see if there are any accounts set up that look fishy. 

If you didn’t set it up it could be possible that you have been hacked and the hacker has set up this account to gain access at any time they want. If you discover a rogue admin account, delete it and run checks on your security.

Backup regularly

Having multiple backups  of your site is one way to mitigate against hackers as you are able to restore back to a clean version of the site.

Ensure you back up regularly, and know how to restore your website. 

Track changes

Having a changelog on your WordPress website allows you to see if and what changes have been made on your site. This is handy to identify any unusual activities so that you can investigate and take action.