Two WordPress Security rules for your Peace of Mind

In this article, we will delve into the topic of WordPress security.

As one of the most widely used content management systems on the internet, WordPress’s popularity also makes it an attractive target for hackers.

However, being a popular target does not mean that WordPress is inherently insecure. The WordPress community actively addresses vulnerabilities and releases patches to ensure the security and stability of websites.

We will explore the importance of regular updates, the role of plugins and themes, and provide key rules to simplify WordPress security.

By following these guidelines, you can cover up to 80-90% of your security needs by creating a highly secure environment for your WordPress site.

Table of Contents

• Is WordPress really insecure?
  • Being a popular engine to hack does not mean it’s insecure.
• Two key rules to simplify WordPress security
  • 1 Update to close security holes
    • How to feel safe when updating
    • Get a simple and fast staging system
  • 2 Get a robust infrastructure
    • What makes a robust infrastructure?
    • Get a robust managed security infrastructure

Is WordPress really insecure?

WordPress is one of the most popular CMS engine out there, roughly around 43.1% of the websites on the internet right now (check the latest WordPress numbers in w3techs).

Having such a huge market share makes WordPress a popular Web CMS engine to hack.

Being a popular engine to hack does not mean it’s insecure.

When a vulnerability is discovered, the entire WordPress community jump into action to get that patched. This is a something you don’t get with an off the shelf product, or even a small unknown content management system.

But vulnerabilities don’t stop in the WordPress core. Plugins and themes are major contributors and they also need to be patched.

These WordPress updates are crucial for the security and stability of your WordPress site.

Not following the updates is what makes WordPress insecure.

Two key rules to simplify WordPress security

If you seek absolute security for your WordPress site, the potential rules to follow are endless. However, by simply adhering to this particular pair of rules, you can establish a highly secure environment.

1 Update to close security holes

We all understand this: Updating WordPress regularly is crucial for closing security holes and ensuring the security of our website

We all have read plenty of blog posts about this subject. But then, why we still have pending updates?

Why do we see the pending updates red notification and don’t take action?

Because we all feel insecure

Our biggest fears when updating are:

• There are a lot of potential dangers that can make the WordPress site to break.
• There are infinite untested explosive plugin combinations.
• There is no easy rollback when things go wrong.

How to feel safe when updating

Please check if your WordPress hosting provides you with a staging environment where:

1. You can make a copy of your live site into a staging environment,
2. You can test the updates and compare side by side with the live site,
3. You can promote the upgrades to production in seconds.

When you feel safe and confident in updating,

you’ll prioritize it, leading to a more secure site.

Get a simple and fast staging system

Staging, clone server or playground environments are crucial to test updates and never break your production site. If you provider does not have one, give a try to Wetopi.

Do not break your production site!
Staging environments are the solution!

To clone a WordPress site with Wetopi is as easy as a simple click.

• 1 click staging/playground environment: 1 click & 0 configs. It gives you a fast copy of your entire server where you can test upgrades without compromising your production site.
• 1 click to promote changes from staging to production.  It saves you time; all your work done in a staging server can be promoted to production in seconds.
• 1 click & 0 configs to Backup and recover from disasters. When you are under the pressure of an unexpected problem, or White Screen of Death, or worst, an intrusion!, there is no place for complex technical procedures. It helps you a lot to restore a backup in an entirely new server with a single click.
• Staging Included in all accounts, even on FREE development plans.
  

2 Get a robust infrastructure

We all can imagine that security responsibilities do not end in the WordPress application side. Server software and network infrastructure are also major contributors to what we call Attack Vectors.

An attack vector is a path or means by which a hacker (or cracker) can gain access to a computer or network server

https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/attack-vector.

A robust infrastructure helps you to lower this vector angle.

What makes a robust infrastructure?

Let’s keep this simple and reveal the two main aspects you must consider:

1. Continuous security updates for every piece of software in your server and network infrastructure. Does it resonate you?
2. Active prevention. Not just standard network firewalls. You need firewalls capable of learning from external sources, and Web Application Firewalls well trained to understand and protect your WordPress from potential security leaks and attacks.

Get a robust managed security infrastructure

Take as a reference the infrastructure of Wetopi, where we are fully focused in WordPress security:

• Redundant external WAF (Web Application Firewalls).  It Prevents the bloating and resource usage of all firewall plugins.
• Real-time blacklisting. It updates blocking lists every minute from security IP Feeds related to online attacks, online service abuse, malware, botnets, command-and-control servers, and other Cybercrime activities. This feature, only available in Premium Plugins, is included in all wetopi plans.

• Shared Learning: WAFs monitors traffic across the entire network and inherit those learnings automatically into our infrastructure. WordPress will avoid non-legit traffic thanks to the real-time experience of other thousands of wetopi domains. Wetopi automatically shields your WordPress from hackers even before an attack takes place.
• Dual network. When networking problems such as flood attacks or Denial-of-Service collapses one route. The website will have an alternate path.

Click here to read on about our redundant networking and security WAF infrastructure.

• Upgrade your server with the ability to rollback in seconds. When upgrading your WordPress server, we use docker images. If a new version fails, it automatically rolls back to the previous server version.
• Now you can forget about server updates and rest easy. You will never see the WordPress White Screen of Death when new server software releases break your site.
• Malware monitoring. Monitoring site activity to identify any compromised sites.

Be at ease by having a robust and secure infrastructure with wetopi

More info about wetopi technology

We are techies passionate about WordPress. With wetopi, a Managed WordPress Hosting, we want to minimize the friction that every professional faces when working and hosting WordPress projects.

Not a wetopi user?

Free full performance servers for your development and test.
No credit card required.