WordPress, besides being one of the most popular content management systems, is also a huge target for hackers. Based on the data gathered by Wordfence, approximately 90,000 WordPress website attacks occur over a single minute. Obviously, the risks are high. Your website is only as secure as you make it, so let’s go over some ways you can protect yourself from potential attacks. 

What Are the Different Types of WordPress Attacks?

Weak Passwords

Weak passwords are the reason around 32% sites get hacked. Passwords like qwerty123 or password123 are just begging to be hacked with ease. You can certainly use a more complex password, but if your website has users, there’s a chance they may elect to use the simple ones, making their accounts and information vulnerable. 

Brute Forcing

Brute forcing is a type of attack that uses an automated piece of software to guess someone’s password. The software tries thousands of random password combinations to try and crack it. The software keeps guessing the password until they gain your login information. 

Back Door Plugins

A backdoor is a way for a hacker to regain access to your website, even if you decided to upgrade security and change your password. As long as the backdoor is not deleted, the hacker can keep control of your site, steal information and infect it with malware. A back door is usually disguised as a WordPress file and could be installed through a plugin. 

SQL Injection

This particular attack is considered the most devastating, as it can leak sensitive information right back to the hacker. It can damage your databases and even impact your SEO ranking in a negative way, too. The hacker injects harmful code into a website form. The code then goes to an app server and gets to the database. The attacker can not only see and copy, but also modify databases, adding new information or deleting them entirely. 

Cross-Site Scripting

This is one of the most common attack types on a WordPress website. The attack lets the hacker feed foreign JavaScript code into a website, without the owner being able to tell. It’s basically a script that can either go through the browser client-side, or get executed on your server. This usually happens through plugins. And the more you have on your website, the more vulnerable it might be. 

How To Protect Your Website From These Attacks?

Now that we know what the most common and devastating attacks are, we can look at things you could do to protect yourself from them. 

Use the Latest Version of WordPress, WordPress Themes and Plugins

This is something you’d want to do even beyond protecting yourself from threats. Regularly update WordPress, your Themes and Plugins to make sure they are all up to date. 

Avoid Nulled Themes

If you aren’t familiar, ‘nulled’ themes are usually premium WordPress themes someone has modified and then shared somewhere for free, or at a smaller cost. Sure, it might be tempting to snag them for free, but in doing so, you would open your website up to attacks. 

Secure Your Login

Besides using a complex password, you may want to introduce a two-factor authentication check. A plugin like Wordfence would be incredibly helpful to have. Also, though, this goes without saying – don’t share your password with anyone. 

Use a Reputable Hosting Service Provider

Even if your website is as secure as it can be, risks still exist if your hosting service provider is not doing maintenance and updates on their end. Carefully vet your hosting provider and sign up with a reputable one. 

Install a Firewall Plugin

A firewall plugin can be used as a way to increase your website’s security. Wordfence is a good choice for a WAF, too. Keep in mind that there are free and premium (paid) versions of the plugin available. 

Conclusion

The truth is that there is no way to 100% ‘hack-proof’ your website. Different attacks develop, strategies change, and hackers eventually figure out a way to get past obstacles. By taking these steps you are drastically reducing the chances of your website, along with any important data, being hacked, leaked or otherwise misused.