How to improve WordPress security?

We can—and I often do—say that WordPress is secure software. Yet with 43.3 % of all websites now running on WordPress, it remains the biggest target on the internet :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}. That massive surface area is simply too tempting for attackers chasing scale.

In my experience, the conversation has shifted: nobody questions whether WordPress core is patched quickly enough; the issue is everything around it—out-of-date plugins, weak credentials, mis-configured servers. Leave just one door ajar and the bots will find it, sooner rather than later.

What Exactly Do We Mean by “WordPress Security”?

It’s the sum of extra layers we add—policies, tooling, and a dash of paranoia—to keep threat actors out. We’re talking routine hardening, proactive monitoring, smart hosting choices, and, yes, the discipline to hit that Update All button without flinching. Skip those basics and even the fanciest firewall won’t save you.

The Data Behind Today’s Threats

• Out-of-date software. 39.1 % of hacked sites in Sucuri’s 2023 sample were running outdated CMS code :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}.
• Plugin & theme flaws. Plugins accounted for 96.7 % of new WordPress vulnerabilities in 2023 (Patchstack). Cross-Site Scripting led the pack.
• Credential attacks at scale. Wordfence blocked 55 billion password-guess attempts in 2024 alone :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}—roughly 1 750 per second.
• SEO penalties. Google still flags non-HTTPS sites, and Cloudflare reminds us that speed & SSL remain baked into ranking signals :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}.

11 Practical Ways to Harden Your WordPress Site

#1 Keep Core, Plugins & Themes Updated

Sounds obvious, yet outdated code is still the easiest win for attackers. Automatic updates in WordPress 6.x make life easier—turn them on and move on. One of the most common mistakes I still see? Agencies delaying updates on staging and forgetting to patch production. Don’t. Sync those pipelines.

#2 Use Long, Unique Passwords (and 2FA)

The human brain hates random strings; attackers love predictable ones. Use a vault (Bitwarden, 1Password—pick your poison) and enable two-factor authentication for wp-admin. After reviewing dozens of breached sites last year, weak admin passwords were still in the top five root causes. It’s 2025—let’s retire “admin123”.

#3 Choose Security-First Hosting

A cheap shared plan might save you €5 a month but could cost you thousands in cleanup fees. Look for providers that bundle:

• Isolated PHP workers or containers
• Hardware firewalls & WAF at edge
• Daily snapshots and off-site backups included in the base price
• 24 × 7 incident response (humans, not chatbots)

I’ve noticed the fastest recoveries happen when hosting support can roll back a VM snapshot in minutes—not hours.

#4 Automate Off-Site Backups

Weekly for content sites, daily (or hourly) for e-commerce. Remember: store them away from your production server. A backup sitting on the same disk isn’t a backup; it’s wishful thinking.

#5 Limit Login Attempts

Install a lightweight limiter or enable the feature in your firewall. Wordfence’s default threshold is fine; personally, I lock after five failures and cool-off for 30 minutes. Yes, an occasional colleague gets locked out—better a slack ping than a breach.

#6 Stick to Reputable Themes

If a premium theme costs €50 but you find a “nulled” copy for €5, ask why. Nine times out of ten that bargain ships with backdoors. Pay the developer—or pick an open-source option from the official repository.

#7 SSL Everywhere

Let’s Encrypt certificates are free, automated, and renew every 90 days. No excuses. Browsers now label plain HTTP as “Not Secure,” and Google factors HTTPS into its ranking algorithm—two strikes you don’t need.

#8 Remove Unused Plugins & Themes

Technical debt is security debt. If it’s deactivated and forgotten, delete it. I once audited a client site with 47 inactive plugins; one had a known remote-code-execution flaw. They dodged a bullet.

#9 Randomise the Database Prefix

Changing wp_ to something like xy9a_ won’t stop a determined attacker, but it cuts down on automated SQL-injection scripts looking for defaults. Do it during installation, or use a security plugin to migrate afterward.

#10 Hide WordPress Version Output

Obscurity isn’t security, yet broadcasting an outdated version invites trouble. Add remove_action( 'wp_head', 'wp_generator' ); in functions.php or let your security suite handle it.

#11 Customise the Admin URL

Changing /wp-admin to a non-standard slug stops some drive-by bots in their tracks. It’s not bullet-proof, but it reduces noise.

Real-World Example

One mid-sized retailer I worked with last quarter ignored plugin updates for six months. Attackers slipped in via an outdated file-upload plugin, injected SEO spam, and tanked organic traffic by 40 % in a week. We restored from a seven-day-old off-site backup, patched, and enabled auto-updates. Traffic recovered, but the clean-up cost north of €2 000—money better spent elsewhere.

Looking Ahead

Automatic updates, block-based themes, and core hardening have nudged WordPress closer to “secure by default,” yet the ecosystem—60 000 + plugins—remains the wild west. I expect to see tighter PHP type-safety requirements in WordPress 7, plus broader adoption of real passwordless logins. Until then, fundamentals still win the day.

Conclusion

WordPress security isn’t a one-and-done task; it’s a routine. Yes, it can feel tedious—sometimes downright boring—but so is changing the oil in a car. Skip it and you’ll pay, sometimes painfully. Follow the practices above, schedule them into your maintenance cycle, and you’ll sleep much easier knowing bots are wasting their time elsewhere.

Heh, maybe I repeated myself once or twice—but that’s how important updates and backups are. Stay safe out there.