Are WordPress websites secure? It is a question often asked, but not easily answered.

The answer is both yes and no. WordPress is one of the leading site creation tools worldwide, with about 43% of all the websites on the internet built with WordPress. To put that in perspective, there are more than 810 million websites that are using WordPress currently in 2024, with the number increasing every day.

This then comes as no surprise that the most commonly used CMS would be the most commonly exploited CMS.

Rest assured, it’s not all doom and gloom. While the vast majority of compromises are typically attributed to exploits in vulnerabilities, the WordPress core itself is quite secure.

The core security provided by WordPress is somewhat diminished with each plugin and theme that you install, opening up further avenues for hackers to exploit known plugin and theme vulnerabilities.

Your best defense against these security threats is to employ and follow standard security protocols.

In this article, we have compiled a short list of some basic standard security protocols you can employ to help keep your website safe and secured:

Core Security:

The most crucial step in securing your website is to keep it up to date. This would include the WordPress core, themes, and plugins. Not only will this help eliminate compatibility issues, but it will also ensure that past possible vulnerabilities have been patched in newer versions.

Mshini offers automatic updates for your WordPress core, plugins, and themes, ensuring that they are automatically updated to the latest version.

It’s not recommended to install random plugins or themes from untrusted sources, as this can risk your site being compromised likely through a known exploit or vulnerability.

Passwords:

It’s imperative to use strong and unique passwords, preferably no shorter than 16 digits. Avoid using the default admin as your username. There are plenty of password generators that can create a very strong and unique password that you can use to generate more complex passwords for your website.

Login Page:

WordPress has a default login page, often the target of unscrupulous bots. You can change the default login page (URL) using a plugin like Custom Login Page URL. This will make it harder for automated bots looking for a backdoor entry via your login page.

Custom Code:

Don’t go about pasting random code into your website! Adding custom code to your website from untrusted sources is very risky and you are potentially exposing your website to the possibility of being hacked. Always only use custom code obtained from well-known reputable sources.

Security Plugin:

You can beef up your site security by installing a comprehensive security plugin. Typically these plugins offer you added security features like malware scanning, website application firewalls, and login attempts limiting.

Two great security plugins that offer many of these features are WordFence and Sucuri Security, both have a free plugin available for WordPress from the official WordPress repository.

Following the above basic security protocols on your website can drastically decrease the likelihood of your site being hacked.