Browse through the WordPress repository and you’ll find a lot of security plugins that promise to secure your WordPress website. With the right plugin(s), you can protect your website from hackers, spammers, viruses, and other security threats.
Some of our most recommended WordPress security plugins are BulletProof Security, iThemes Security (formerly known as Better WP Security), and Wordfence Security. These plugins focus heavily in certain areas, so you might want to take a closer look at each of them.
BulletProof Security
This WordPress security plugin features firewall security, login security, database security, etc. It’s effective, reliable, and easy to use.
What’s great about this plugin is that it focuses on protecting your site against SQL injection, XSS, and code injection, among many other hacking approaches.
For those who are not familiar with these terms, SQL injection is basically a code injection technique that’s used by hackers to attack data-driven applications, wherein malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution (i.e. dumping database contents to the attacker).
XSS (or cross-site scripting) is a type of security vulnerability that enables attackers to inject client-side script into web pages viewed by other users. This may be used by attackers to bypass access controls.
With code injection, an attacker will inject code into a computer program to change the course of the execution. The results of a code injection attack can be disastrous, as it can completely deface your website.
BulletProof Security will protect your sites from these attacks. There’s also a lot of .htaccess protection with this plugin.
Wordfence Security
Wordfence Security is another great security plugin for WordPress. First, it checks if your site has already been infected. It performs a deep server-side scan of your source code and compares it to the WordPress repository for core, themes, and plugins. It will then secure your website and makes it up to 50 times faster.
The plugin is Multi-Site compatible and comes with two-factor authentication via SMS, which is really useful for securing your website from brute force attacks. This particular feature is not available in the other plugins so it’s great if you’re concerned about this particular security issue.
Take note, however, that this feature is only available on the plugin’s premium version. Other advanced features include country blocking and the ability to schedule scans for specific times.
Wordfence Security is a great firewall that could block common security threats such as fake Googlebots, and malicious scans from hackers and botnets (software that automatically try to hack websites). It’s a great plugin for basic security and malware scans so even if you don’t get the premium version, you can still greatly benefit from it.
iThemes Security
Previously known as Better WP Security, this WordPress plugin provides more than 30 different ways to secure and protect your website. It primarily focuses on securing weak plugins, passwords, and obsolete software.
iThemes Security works to fix common security holes, stops automated attacks, and strengthens user credentials. These are features that you won’t normally see in other security plugins.
Example (Wordfence Security):
Step 1:
From your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins >> Add New.
Step 2:
Do a search for the Wordfence Security plugin.
Step 3:
Once you’ve found the plugin, click on Install Now, and then activate the plugin.
Step 4:
From the Plugins section, click on the yellow shield icon found on the left side of the screen. Here, you’ll find your newly installed plugin.
Start scanning by clicking on the Start a Wordfence Scan button. This will scan your website for vulnerabilities.
Depending on how fast your web server is, scanning your site can take a few minutes.
After scanning, you will be provided with a Scan Summary, Scan Detailed Activity, as well as the issues that require fixing.
Wordfence Security primarily focuses on scanning. In terms of protection itself, you might want to use iThemes Security or BulletProof Security. Remember that these three plugins focus on different areas.
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