Securing your WordPress admin area and login page is crucial to protect your website from various security risks. While hackers pose a significant threat, non-malicious intrusions resulting from approved users can also cause security issues. To ensure the safety of your website, you can implement some common sense tips and plugins. By focusing on aspects such as login credentials and preventing malicious attacks, you can make your site more secure for all users.
In this article, we will discuss why it is essential to protect your admin and login pages and provide you with five tips to secure your site.
Why You Should Protect Your WordPress Admin Area (and Login Page)
Your WordPress login page is like the front door of your house, and it is the weakest link when it comes to accessing your website. Your admin screen is the first room anyone enters, so securing both is crucial for website security. Failure to do so can result in loss of customer, user, or personal information, harm to website functionality, and even complete removal. Moreover, loss of customer trust can be catastrophic for your business.
Brute force attacks are a popular way of gaining unauthorized access to a website. Therefore, several tips focus on keeping your site safe from such attacks.
Here are five tips to secure your WordPress admin area:
1. Choose Strong Usernames and Passwords
Strong credentials are lengthy strings of random characters, sometimes including numbers and symbols. Compared to short passwords, strong passwords are difficult for hackers to guess, making it harder for them to access your account. Weak credentials leave your site open to avoidable risks. Every user credential on your site matters, so ensure that all usernames and passwords are strong.
To ensure strong credentials:
– Obscure your username by changing any default usernames from admin to something harder to guess.
– Use a long and difficult-to-guess password. You can use a website such as Strong Password Generator or WordPress’s password generator.
– Store your password in a secure location. Securely storing your passwords is just as important. Use LastPass or 1Password to manage all your passwords easily.
2. Add Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) to Block Unauthorized Logins
2FA is a method of protecting your account by asking you for a unique code or token via your smart device. It ensures that whenever you log in, WordPress can verify that it is you and not a hacker.
Plugins that can help you implement 2FA include:
– Two Factor Authentication
– Keyy
Experiment with standard 2FA plugins before gravitating to other solutions such as Keyy when you are comfortable. Some plugins such as Wordfence and Jetpack include this feature, so they are worth checking out too.
3. Limit the Number of Login Attempts to Restrict Brute Force Attacks
Brute force attacks iterate through every possible combination to guess your credentials. Limiting the number of times a user can log in is a simple and effective way to hinder them.
Plugins that can help prevent brute force attacks include:
– Jetpack
– iThemes Security
– Wordfence Security
– BruteGuard
4. Implement a Website Application Firewall (WAF) to Protect Your Site from Code Injections
A code injection alters the functionality of your site and can be devastating. A WAF offers a barrier to your site to block these and other types of attacks before they reach your files.
Plugins that include a WAF as standard or offer other options include:
– Wordfence
– NinjaFirewall
– Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall
– All in One WP Security & Firewall
5. Use WordPress User Roles to Limit Account Capabilities on Your Site
For every account accessing your site, you can set a defined user role with a set of capabilities that limits what the user account can do. It ensures users only have access to what they need to carry out their job, a key aspect of site security.
To get started:
– Set the right user roles upfront to offer access to what a user needs and nothing else.
– Use a plugin such as User Role Editor or WPFront User Role Editor to customize the access certain roles have.
– Regularly check for unused accounts and delete them.
In conclusion, keeping unauthorized access at bay is crucial for website security. Failure to do so can have catastrophic consequences for your site, search ranking, and potential income. The five tips discussed in this article can help you expertly protect your admin area. Do you have any more tips to help protect your WordPress admin area? Share them in the comments section below!
