WordPress is one of the most popular publishing platforms available today with more than 24% of all the websites in the world running over it. This paired with the fact that WordPress is an open source platform (this means the code that runs WordPress is available to everyone) make this platform a favorable target for most hackers. This article strives to educate you on the basics of WordPress security and how you can protect yourself from most security issues and threats.

Who attacks your website?

WordPress websites face three threats:

• Humans. This is the hacker seated with a keyboard trying to probe and attack your website manually. This is a rare threat.
• Single Bot. This is an automated program/ script that hackers use to attack your website in an automated manner.
• Botnet. This constitutes a group of machines that run programs that are coordinated from a central server that attack multiple sites in automated manners.

Most attacks are done by Bots and Botnets. The reason for this is because bots are faster and more effective in attacking large sites. To avoid such malicious attacks, it is critical that you close all security holes on your website.

Why do they attack WordPress sites?

There are many reasons why hackers target WordPress sites. The primary goal, however, is to gain control of your website at an administrative level. When this happens, the hacker can read all your files and data in your database. They can also modify the files and data and change how your website works. The main reason for hacking a website is to:

• Send spam email from your site.
• Host malicious content such as spam content, illegal drug sales or pornography
• Redirect traffic from your website to other spam or malicious websites
• Run their script on your website to enable them attack other sites.

Once your WordPress website is compromised, it will be used for a range of malicious activities. This will subsequently ruin the reputation of your website or even business. So, how do you prevent these attacks?

How to prevent threat and attacks

To protect your website from these attacks, you need to know how you are being attacked. There are several main entries that attackers use. They include your login page, PHP code on your site, unmaintained applications, temporary files, and attacks through shared hosting, attack through operating system or web server.

To prevent these attacks, you need to start by doing the following:

• Use stronger alpha numeric passwords for all your user accounts
• Select a reputable hosting service provider and opt for dedicated hosting
• Keep your themes, plugins and all WordPress cores up-to-date.
• Use intrusion detection & prevention systems for an added layer of security
• Remove the old and unmaintained website applications including the old backups of your site
• Ensure you clear all sensitive temporary files

These are just a few of the items to get you started on protecting your WordPress website. For more details on how to protect your website go to www.websiteservice4all.com/website-security.