24+ WordPress Security Tips

Last updated on: May 5, 2018

I recently wrote a post about cleaning up your hacked wordpress site and wanted to follow up with a quick post on how to actually prevent your site from getting hacked.

The order I chose for releasing the posts seems a bit silly. Of course you would want to prevent hackers first, however, most people don’t even think about hack-proofing their site until it actually happens.

I am keeping this post short and sweet since no one wants to read too much about this boring and scary subject. I will not go into detail for each of the security tips. Maybe later I will create a post to talk about each of these…

So check out my 24+ WordPress Security Tips below and be safe!

Upgrade WordPress
Update your themes & plugins
Delete the default admin account
Change default passwords
Use “strong” passwords
Limit login attempts (note: this is included with good hosting)
2-Factor Authentication
Move your wp-config.php file
Use secret keys in your wp-config.php file
Change the WordPress table prefix
Lockdown your htaccess to allow only certain IPS to access it
Use shell access as opposed to FTP
Create a blank index.html in your plugins directory (should be there in newer WP versions)
Block access to the wp-admin folder using your .htaccess file
Remove the WordPress version string from your header.hp file
Block your wp folders from search engines
Do not allow people to register as administrators by default – limit user access
Keep spam comments out
Backup your database and server-side files regularly
Use proper file permission settings on all files on your server
Use secured connections to access your WP admin pages
Add SSL to your website
Scan for vulnerabilities
Use good hosting
Implement tips 1 through 24

Hopefully this list will help you improve your WordPress security. And if you want to take you security to the next level have a look at these other WordPress security tips from our WPExplorer authors:

Let us know what worked for you or if you have any questions in the comment below!