It only takes one hacker to guess the password to your WordPress dashboard to wipe out all of the hard work you’ve done.
I wish this wasn’t true, but I’ve read enough horror stories of sites that have been hacked to know that website security is important.
Fortunately, there are three free WordPress plugins you can use to beef up your website security to an impressive level:
1. WPS Hide Login
This plugin allows you to change the URL of your WordPress login.
By default, your wordpress dashboard can be accessed by tacking on wp-admin to the end of your domain name.
For example, suppose you own the domain name yourdomain.com. If you have WordPress installed, you can access your WordPress dashboard by logging in with your credentials at yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
This plugin allows you to change the address of your login page. For example, instead of letting it be yourdomain.com/wp-admin you can change it to yourdomain.com/sneaky-login.
2. Limit Login Attempts Reloaded
This plugin limits the number of times that someone can attempt to log in to your WordPress dashboard.
By default, there is no limit. With this plugin, you can set a login limit so that a user is locked out for a certain amount of time after a certain amount of failed login attempts.
For example, you might set up this plugin so that a user is locked out for 5 hours after 3 unsuccessful login attempts.
This prevents a hacker from being able to try thousands of different combinations of password in an attempt to access your dashboard.
3. Two Factor Authentication
This plugin enables two-factor authentication when logging in to your WordPress dashboard. This means that once you’ve successfully entered your username and password, you then need to enter a special code that can only be found on your phone to complete the login process.
Thus, if someone happens to guess the username and password to your dashboard, they would still need access to your phone to get the second password required to log in.
The End Result
Once you have these three plugins installed and activated, here’s what the login process would then look like if you owned the domain name yourdomain.com
Step 1: In your browser, you’d type in yourdomain.com/sneaky-login. (Or whatever URL you chose to use)
Step 2: You would enter your username and password. (You only get however many attempts you specified in the Limit Login Attempts Reloaded plugin)
Step 3: Once you provide the correct username and password, you’ll need to type in the two factor authentication code on your phone to complete the log in process.
By using these three free plugins, you’re able to minimize the chances of your site ever getting hacked.
Full Disclosure: Nothing on this site should ever be considered to be advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell any securities, please see my Terms & Conditions page for a full disclaimer.
