Keeping Your WordPress Website Secure
This resource outlines actionable information to help site owners manage, maintain, and protect their WordPress websites for safe, reliable performance.
Why are WordPress sites a common target?
WordPress makes it easy to build a customized, intuitive, and highly scalable website. As the world's most popular content management system, it powers blogs, eCommerce stores, business sites, and everything in between.
However, the same qualities that make WordPress so appealing also make it a frequent target for cyberattacks. Its popularity gives hackers countless opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities across millions of sites. Themes and plugins add flexibility, but they can also introduce security risks that open the door to malware, phishing, SEO spam, and other threats.
To stay protected, use the resources on this page to strengthen your WordPress security and follow proven practices that help safeguard your site against emerging threats.
Security Resources
WordPress security basics
Common vulnerabilities & threats
Malware prevention
Fixing common WordPress errors
Website security maintenance
Ongoing protection with SiteLock’s WordPress Plugin
WordPress security basics
WordPress offers robust site security features and is actively maintained by teams of developers. But is WordPress secure? That depends on how well it’s configured and maintained. Even with active development and security updates, vulnerabilities can still appear.
Securing a WordPress site depends on a few core habits: active monitoring, careful plugin and theme management, and strong authentication.
Strengthen your WordPress site by hardening its configuration. Use secure authentication practices, keep core files updated, and manage plugins proactively. Pair these habits with a daily website security scanning solution to detect vulnerabilities, malware, and suspicious activity before they become serious issues.
Common vulnerabilities & threats
WordPress vulnerabilities are weaknesses that threat actors can exploit to disrupt your site or compromise user data. Recent vulnerabilities in popular plugins like Elementor Pro have led to malicious redirects, while files such as xmlrpc.php have been abused in brute-force or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
The first step in reducing your risk is identifying WordPress vulnerabilities early. WordPress scans, whether run manually, through specialized plugins, or automated scanning services, help surface issues before they escalate.
Once vulnerabilities are detected, they can be addressed. Start with login security: mandate strong login credentials, limit login attempts, and use two-factor authentication to prevent brute-force attacks from bots. Update passwords immediately if you see any signs of suspicious activity.
Malware prevention
Malicious software (malware) is designed to disrupt websites and computing systems. If this malicious code is injected into your website, it can compromise both website functionality and your users. Malware can lead to spam redirects, altered content, or phishing attempts. It's more likely to occur when outdated plugins or themes are in use, but it can also enter through weak passwords.
Even well-secured websites can be affected. Detecting and removing malware quickly is critical. Malware removal services can help address active infections and reduce the chances of recurring issues.
After an attack, take prompt action: update all passwords, audit user permissions, and replace any modified core files while the site remains in Maintenance Mode. Use clean backups to restore to an uncompromised version of WordPress and regain full functionality.
Fixing common WordPress errors
Not all WordPress problems are caused by bad actors. Coding mistakes and misconfigurations can limit functionality and disrupt user experience.
These WordPress errors appear in many forms. A WordPress critical error often indicates issues with PHP code execution, while an error establishing a database connection may point to corrupt files or incorrect database credentials.
Some WordPress errors include standardized HTTP codes that help speed up troubleshooting. A 400 bad request error suggests that servers cannot process requests due to client-side issues. A 500 internal server error typically points to a server-side issue preventing a valid request from being completed.
WordPress error logs capture these events in detail, helping pinpoint both the error and its root cause. Reviewing logs is one of the most effective ways to troubleshoot and resolve issues quickly.
Website security maintenance
WordPress security is an ongoing process, not a one-time task. It requires regular maintenance, proactive monitoring, and consistent updates. Start with a site security audit to uncover misconfigurations or hidden vulnerabilities. Key elements of an audit include core component updates, user permission assessments, and vulnerability scans.
Keep plugins to a minimum and maintain them carefully, but don't shy away from adding the right security plugins. These can improve overall website security through real-time monitoring.
Create a structured maintenance process that includes scheduled updates. Managed hosting or third-party maintenance services can help improve monitoring and ensure timely responses to detected issues.
Updates are crucial but can sometimes disrupt site functionality. Prevent this by using staging sites to test changes first. This separate environment lets you evaluate features and modifications without affecting your live site's performance.
Ongoing protection with SiteLock’s solutions
Safeguard your WordPress site with dependable security tools built to identify, monitor, and mitigate threats. The SiteLock plugin and website security plans provide continuous scanning, malware detection and removal, website backups, web application firewall (WAF), and content delivery network (CDN) capabilities.
SiteLock's WordPress Security Plugin and WordPress security solutions help protect your website, your users, and your online reputation.