5 February 2025

WordPress Security – Setup

Security is crucial, and ensuring the safety of both the WordPress setup and hosting environment is essential. Here’s a guide to improving your WordPress security setup.

Security is crucial, and ensuring the safety of both the WordPress setup and hosting environment is essential. Here’s a guide to improving your WordPress security setup.

WordPress Security Features

Regular Updates

  • Core, Plugins, and Themes: Always update to the latest versions. Suggest do not automatic updates.
  • Testing Environment: Make use of staging environment to test automatic updates before deploying to production, minimizing the risk of breaking changes.

Why it matters: Patches fix vulnerabilities. Testing prevents site have any critical error.

User Management

  • Strong Passwords: Enforce the use of strong, unique passwords for all users.
  • Limit Login Attempts: Prevent brute force attacks by restricting failed login attempts.
  • User Roles: Assign appropriate roles and capabilities to each user.
  • Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Enable 2FA or Multi-Factor Authentication. Consider using Single Sign-On (SSO) for enhanced security.
  • IP Allow Lists: Use IP allow lists to restrict access, especially for wp-admin.

Suggestion: Consider use plugin like Melapress Login Security for Strong Passwords policy, Limit Login Attempts, Limit User login IP address and more.

File Permissions

  • Directory Permissions: Set directories to 755 or 750.
  • File Permissions: Set files to 644 or 640. Ensure wp-config.php is set to 440 or 400.
  • Avoid 777 Permissions: Never assign 777 permissions to any directories.

Why it matters: ncorrect permissions let hackers modify files.

Security Plugins

  • Consider using plugins like Malcare or PatchStack to add an extra layer of protection.

HTTPS and HSTS

  • HTTPS: Always use HTTPS for secure communication.
  • HSTS: Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to enforce the use of HTTPS and protect against downgrade attacks.

Security Headers

  • Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
  • Content-Security-Policy: Whitelist content sources to prevent XSS attacks.
  • X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN to prevent clickjacking.
  • X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff to enforce correct MIME type handling.
  • Referrer-Policy: Control how much referrer information is shared.
  • Permissions-Policy: Manage browser features and API usage.

Check headers: Use tools like securityheaders.org to check your site’s security headers.

Suggested Tasks

  1. Ensure WordPress core.
  2. Ensure plugins, and themes are up-to-date.
  3. Enforce strong passwords and appropriate user roles.
  4. Enable and enforce 2FA for admin user.
  5. Set correct file permissions.
  6. Enable HSTS and use HTTPS.
  7. Configure application-level security headers.
  8. Delete unused plugins/themes.
  9. Disable file editing.
  10. Backup website daily offsite.

For WordPress security in an enterprise setting, you may want to check out Implementing Robust Security Measures for WordPress Websites

Secure Your WordPress Site with Expert Support

Protecting your WordPress site from threats is vital for its success. If you prefer focusing on your business rather than technical details, consider professional WordPress maintenance and support services. Our expert team offers comprehensive solutions to keep your site secure and efficient, allowing you to concentrate on growing your online presence with peace of mind.