WordPress is one of the most popular website platforms for bloggers and businesses as of 2017. It is easy to use and flexible as well as highly supported by developers and designers, but its security should also be considered.

WordPress Security Issues

It is a sad fact that a great many websites have been hacked and there is no sign of this abating any time soon.

Potential security vulnerabilities need to be patched as quickly as they are discovered. Also, concentrate on secure website hosting (espeically if your using shared hosting), vary your login pages and even lock down your wp-login.php file using secondary authentication, use strong passwords and keep those passwords secure and change them often. Always insist on Secure WordPress hosting with your hosting provider, or make the effort to secure it yourself the best you can.

Keep an eye on all these too:

• Check your website hosting server for security vulnerabilities
• Analyze your WordPress Themes security looking for common issues
• Use Plug-in security within your WordPress installation
• Ensure your database is secure
• Check File permissions are set for security
• Avoid possible FTP security vulnerabilities and Back doors
• Use secure Encryption, especially where personal or financial details are stored by you website.

WordPress Security Plug-ins Reviewed

There are many good and some not so good security plug-ins available for the WordPress environment. Here is our pick.

First of all, check out Wordfence, it is a powerful and comprehensive security plug-in. There’s both a free and paid version too.

• Wordfence also comes with full support and monitoring from the company that developed it for added peace of mind. We particularly like its THREAT DEFENSE FEED which arms your plug-in with the most up to date firewall rules, malware signatures and it also provides potentially malicious IP addresses too.
• iThemes Security gives its users  comprehensive functions in either a free version, with limited functionality, or a paid version with comprehensive functionality. It’s a good all-rounder in our opinion.
• Sucuri Security is a free WordPress plugin. It is great for quickly alerting you to any potential security problems with any WordPress website. This plug-in monitors and records activity in your WordPress installation and keeps a log of the activity taking place real-time.
• Another great WordPress security plug-in is All in One WP Security. This one has a unique grading system enabling you to identify those specific areas where your WordPress website security is vulnerable. There is a user friendly dashboard ranking your existing levels of security on a sliding scale too. There are three levels of functionality, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. The Basic features are fairly easy to use and safe too! Intermediate and Advanced features should be used with care, if in doubt, consult a professional such as the team at Security Audit Systems. Sub-menus within All in One WP Security mean that it is easy and intuitive to use.

Take care when activating advanced security functionality

WordPress Security Plug-ins are very powerful and great care should be used in their implementation and usage, particularly for the more complex functionality that is available.

If you are a website novice, or a business or organization that has other things to worry about, then always consider using specialists in website security and secure website hosting such as the team at Security Audit Systems. Don’t leave your sites security to chance, get a website audit done to identify any security issues, you will be glad that you did.