How to Improve the Security of your WordPress Website

WordPress is the most widely used Content Management System (CMS) and basically everyone can have access to its default code no matter if that person is a simple user, hacker or a developer. The default code of the WordPress platform is secured enough and there are no reports recently for weak elements that might cause your website to be compromised.

In some cases however, the users or the developers uses resources which are distributed not by the authors of the platform but from 3rd parties which might not pass the required integrity test. Usually using a free resource such as plugin or a template on your website does not always mean that it will lack security or you will face similar issues with it. However commonly used free templates or plugins are not secured enough and they are in some cases providing security holes which the attackers of your website might take serious advantage of to brea into your website and cause problems.

Basically there are few ways to deface or hack user website build with WordPress. The most commonly used method is for a malicious file to be uploaded on the website and then executed directly so it can provide a web interface to the hackers. With the help of that web interface the attackers can basically do anything with your website..

To improve the security of your WordPress, here are the basic steps you need to follow:

Step 1: Disable PHP Execution
Step 2: Protect Account Registration and Contact Forms
Step 3: Activate the Akismet Plugin
Disable PHP execution

There are two directories in your WordPress that are writable by default. The /wp-includes/ directory contains themes and plug-ins which can create files on their own and the /wp-content/uploads/ directory is used by the users to upload content on your website so both of these folders must be writeable. Unfortunately, this brings security vulnerability with the PHP files in those folders. A malicious PHP file can be uploaded and executed in order to compromise your website and even the entire server on which it is situated. As changing the write permissions is not a good solution in this case, you can instead remove the execution permissions on files with the extension PHP. In this tutorial, we will show you a few ways to do this depending on your configuration, rights and specific needs using the .htaccess file or the Apache configuration file.

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