WordPress is a popular blogging and CMS platform. It powers more than 70 million websites–from small blogging websites to global brand websites. However, as with other web-based applications, security is always an issue. Those wondering how to protect a WordPress site from malware have concerns that are not unfounded.

With the number of web-based malicious attacks increasing every day, thanks to its popularity WordPress too has faced its share of virus attacks, making WordPress security a critical concern for each website owner.

Each day Google blacklists over 10,000 websites because of malware issues and around 5,000 each week for phishing. If you are worried about your website’s security and want to know how to protect a WordPress site from malware, you must apply WordPress security best practices. In this article, we will share with you how to protect a WordPress site from malware. We’ll also share WordPress security tips which will help address the WordPress malware problem and help you protect your website’s security.

WordPress’s core software is quite secure, as it is regularly audited by several developers. However, there are still additional steps that can be taken to secure further the website. At GSM Marketing Agency, we strongly believe that risk reduction is essential for optimum website security.

As a website owner or developer, you can do a number of things to solve the WordPress malware problem and improve your WordPress security.

This article lists down some of the actionable steps that explore how to protect a WordPress site from malware or a virus attack. Before we learn about the steps for protection, let us first understand what we mean by malware.

What is Malware? What are the different types of Malware?

The word “malware” is a short form of ‘malicious software.’ Malware is software that is intentionally created for causing disruptions or damage to a computer, a server, a network, or a website.

Over the years malware has become one of the greatest threats to all-digital systems. They have been evolving with time and have been infecting and damaging systems they affect. Some of the most common types of malware are:

  1. Virus
  2. Trojan horse
  3. Spyware
  4. Ransomware
  5. Adware
  6. Cryptocurrency miners

New types of malware are being discovered every day hence it is difficult to assume that your systems or website are safe. Even your basic WordPress site can get infected in several ways which could lead to loss of content or may end up financially affecting you.

The best way to deal with a malware attack is to be prepared and know what you are fighting against.  This will help you take appropriate measures to protect your website against malware attacks.

How to protect a WordPress site from malware? How to secure WordPress website from hackers?

Though WordPress is known to be a highly secure platform, it cannot be considered to be completely safe and secure. It is important that you take the time to implement certain WordPress security plugins and other security routines on your website to keep it protected from WordPress malware problem.

The following are some of the ways for how to protect a WordPress site from malware.

  • Update Regularly

In most cases, the attacks happen because your WordPress version is outdated or the version of your plugins is outdated. WordPress has a very strong community. Whenever a vulnerability is detected, the community of developers immediately work to patch the security problem.

So, to protect your website from new malware, it is advisable to keep your WordPress site updated. In addition, you should keep the themes, files, plugins, and other features updated. Fortunately, WordPress makes it easy to do so by continually posting new security updates. All you need to do is click on the “Updates” link, which is displayed under the dashboard.

  • Secure the Login Page

WordPress is a robust platform that doesn’t have many weak points. However, most attackers would try to hack your WordPress login page to gain access to your site.  Therefore, it is important to learn how to secure the login page to avoid any attacks.

The two things which you should do are: Select a strong username and password. Never keep ‘admin’ as your username, as hackers and bots will try using that username.

Generate a strong password that cannot be easily deciphered. Additionally, you can also implement the two-factor authentication, which will require the person to use a mobile device to log in.

WordPress Security Plugins like Limit Login Attempts Reloaded can be installed to stop hackers from making multiple attempts to log in to your account.

  • Take Regular Backups

It is essential to keep a backup copy of your site. This can be used to revert the hacked or infected website back to its original state.

Obviously, the backup of the website would be useful when it gets infected or hacked; nevertheless, it is a very critical tool for fighting malware. If your WordPress site is attacked by malware and if you have not taken a backup, you will end up losing your complete data and content.

Having a backup can help restore the website back to the saved version prior to the attack. You can create backups in WordPress in several ways. For example, there are many plugins like UpdraftPlus which offer backup features.

Furthermore, there are few web hosts that automatically create backups at specific intervals. WordPress also offers a support plan, which can be availed to ensure regular backups.

  • Install WordPress Security Plugins
We’ve already discussed how many plugins can be useful in protecting some aspects of your site. There are several WordPress Security Plugins that can offer complete security to your WordPress site. Let us look at some of the most popular options:
  1. Sucuri Security is a free plugin that offers a number of features like scanning the site for malware and regular updating on the latest threats. It sends notifications related to any security issues and keeps a check on all your website’s files to track for anything harmful.
  2. Wordfence Security is a WordPress security plugin that has arguably the strongest firewall. It also includes a malware scanner that can monitor traffic and hacking attempts in real-time.
  3. All In One WP Security & Firewall is a comprehensive security solution that offers security scanning, an automatic backup facility, and a firewall. It is a free plugin that can secure your website without requiring much legwork.
  • Download Themes and Plugins from Trusted Sources

Be careful while downloading themes and plugins, as there are many pirated, nulled themes and nulled plugins that may contain malware or spam bots which can be harmful to your website.

This malware may affect your site performance or steal critical information. If you are using a pirated theme or nulled plugin it is advisable to check for any malware using security solutions.

Conclusion

One of the most important tasks for a website owner is to keep its website free from any malware. WordPress has a secure foundation that can keep your website protected, however, if you don’t take precautions your website may still end up becoming a target for a malware attack.

If you are still searching for how to protect a WordPress site from malware and want to design and develop a secure WordPress website, you can contact GSM Marketing Agency. We implement top security plugins on your new WordPress site to protect you and your business.

GSM Marketing offers affordable, beautiful, and responsive web design services in Tucson. For more information, visit the contact us page or write to us at [email protected] Follow my blog with Bloglovin