4 Best Ways to Secure your WordPress Themes in 2016

In 2009 we came across many dangerous vulnerabilities that were associated with WordPress and many ended up thinking that the platform is not secured. That is definitely not the case. What we should understand is that all themes or CMS systems might develop vulnerabilities. It is the site owner’s responsibility to be sure that all steps necessary are taken to guarantee a complete network security. That may seem difficult with WordPress but it is not. Everything starts with the following important tips you should remember.

Always Use Strong Passwords And Usernames

One of the worst things you could do is let your main username be “Admin” and have a password like “12345” or “password”. Most of the hacks happen because the hacker identifies the username and the password. While it is true that you can easily identify the username even if you change it, this does not mean that it is something you should not do. Make sure that you will always use passwords and usernames that are as strong as they should be.

If you have problems remembering the most complex passwords, use a password manager. Just be sure that you do not use one that is very simple, like that included in your browser. The best thing that you can do is use something like 1Password or RoboForm.

Secure The Login Screen

The smart attacker can still find out what your username-password combination is in the event that he is dedicated to hacking your WordPress installation. Because of this, you want to secure the login screen for the brute force attacks. All that you really need to do is limit login attempt numbers. This is possible through various different plugins and all you have to do is choose one that is recommended by many. The idea behind the login screen security is that whenever someone tries to guess the password for a number of times in a short period of time, the IP address is blocked.

Check File And Folder Permissions

WordPress default settings should be left unaltered in most cases but understanding permission modes is still something that is recommended by security specialists. We normally deal with 755 and 644 permissions. 644 permission means that the file can be modified and accessed by the user. That is a perfect setting. However, in some situations we are faced with themes and plugins that will require the 755 permission. That is something that you want to be careful about as it means anyone that has access to the installation can modify the files. Such vulnerability should not actually exist.

Constant Backups

No matter how hard you try to secure the WordPress installation, some security problems can appear. Because of this, it is a really good idea that you remain focused on setting up a really good backup system. The great news is that you can always use plugins for this. However, setting up a special whole server backup is something that you have to consider. In many cases the hosting provider can take care of this for you.