WordPress is by far the most popular of all the blogging platforms available now. This is mainly because all types of sites are supported, ranging from really simple blogs to highly complex business websites. Statistics show that around 25% of all sites are using WordPress right now. However, with such popularity it should be no surprise to see that spammers and hackers are interested in breaking security for the WordPress installations.
The good news is that WordPress is open source. This means that thousands of people are actively working on the CMS. We thus have access to different security plugins that were created in order to control various aspects like login security, theft protection, file integrity, backups, firewalls, email protection and more.
Out of all the security plugins that exist at the moment, the following are those that are the most popular and that you should seriously consider.
Wordfence Security
Over 1 million downloads clearly state that Wordfence Security is popular. In fact, this is one of the most popular, all because the security plugin covers IP blocking, file monitoring, security scanning, login security and even adds a useful firewall. When you install it you can make it scan the entire site to see if it is infected. Then, you get recommendations about what should be done. Some solutions are actually automatic.
Wordfence is highly recommended for both beginners and professionals. There is even a premium feature that includes highly advanced features like scheduled scanning, 2 step authentication and country blocking.
Sucuri Security
This free plugin gives access to different features like security activity auditing, malware scanning, effective security hardening and blacklist monitoring. The security suite is mainly meant to complement the security posture you already have. Sucuri will track website activity to highlight whenever site changes are done. When security breaches happen activity logs are easy to review so problems can be fixed.
All In One WPSecurity & Firewall
One of the main advantages of this WordPress security plugin is that it is highly user-friendly. The interface is really easy to use and the plugin is going to offer protection by checking present vulnerabilities while implementing the newest security measures and techniques. A highly interesting feature you do want to learn more about is a dashboard meter. It will offer a site score that shows you how secure the website is. When y ou add extra security features the score will increase. Combine this with the security scanner included and you will be able to quickly find out whenever your site is infected or hacked.
Bulletproof Security
The last security plugin we recommend, BulletProof Security, will offer a single click solution to most problems you might have. The website ends up secured against XSS, SQL injection, CRLF, RFI and even code injections. We are faced with a very long security features list. Those that are of the highest interest for most site owners are:
- One-click setup
- File monitoring – uploaded files that are malicious are quarantined
- Login attempts recording
- Alert sent when there is malicious activity detected
- Alert when user actions happen
The pro version offers even more security features that can drastically increase website security.
Final Thoughts
One thing that you might not know is that there are more and more hacking attacks happening every single week. You want to be sure that your WordPress site is secured at all times. Every single one of the security plugins mentioned above are great and can help you. Choose the one that you are most comfortable with but be sure that you activate alert features so you learn as soon as possible when something bad happens with the website.
