Securing your WordPress site is crucial to protect it from potential hacks and attacks. While there are many guides available on what you should do to keep your site safe, it’s equally important to know what you should avoid doing. In this article, we’ll discuss the top six things you should avoid doing to ensure your WordPress site’s security.
1. Don’t Use Too Many Security Plugins
Using multiple security plugins may seem like a good idea, but it’s an overkill. It’s essential to identify the features that are essential to your site’s requirements and choose a security plugin accordingly. Using too many plugins can lead to conflicts and slow down your website. Debugging issues can also become complicated with multiple plugins.
2. Do Not Change DB Prefix
Changing the default table prefix of your WordPress site may seem like a good idea to prevent hackers from accessing your database. However, it’s not an effective measure as hackers can still find out the table names even after changing the prefix. Modifying the default prefix can also cause several plugins to misbehave, and changing it midflight can cause your website to crash.
3. Avoid Hiding Your Login Page
Hiding or changing the default login page of your WordPress site may seem like a good idea to prevent brute force attacks. However, it can cause usability issues and slow down your website. Moreover, using alternative URLs may be ineffective in most cases as hackers can still find out the preset login URLs.
4. Don’t Block IP Addresses Manually
Manually blocking IP addresses that send malicious requests to your website is not an efficient use of time. It’s also not user-friendly, and a non-technical person trying to modify the .htaccess files can cause the site to crash. Using a top WordPress security plugin like Malcare can automate the blocking process and take care of all WP security loopholes.
5. Hiding WordPress
Hiding the fact that your website is running on WordPress may seem like a good idea to prevent hackers from exploiting common vulnerabilities. However, it’s not an effective measure as there are many ways to find out if a site is running on WordPress. Moreover, skipping WordPress updates can open the front door for a hacker to walk right into your site.
6. Password Protecting wp-admin Does Not Work
Password protecting the default WordPress login page may seem like a good idea to hide or protect the gateway to your site’s dashboard. However, it’s not an effective measure as it’s difficult to maintain or change the password if you happen to lose it. It can also cause plugins that depend on the Ajax functionality of your site to misbehave and break your website.
In conclusion, securing your WordPress site requires more than just installing a security plugin. It’s essential to know what you should avoid doing to ensure your site’s security. By following the above tips, you can reduce the risk of a hack and keep your WordPress site safe.
