Small business marketing tips and website advice from Full Scope

As the cornerstone of your businesses online presence, your WordPress website requires a series of security measures to protect it from various potential threats. There are four strategies you can implement to keep your WordPress site secure and safeguard your valuable digital assets. Keep WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins Updated Regular updates are your first line of defense against WordPress security vulnerabilities. Be sure to check that your WordPress core software, themes, and plugins are always up to date. Developers frequently release updates to patch known issues such as security holes, provide enhanced functionality, and improve general performance. One option is to enable automatic updates for WordPress. By doing this anytime an update is available it will run automatically and be installed. Even with automatic updates, it is still advantageous to regularly check for updates in the admin dashboard to ensure that they are being installed correctly. By staying current with updates, you can significantly reduce the risk of exploitation by cybercriminals. Use Strong Usernames and Passwords 1234 IS NOT A STRONG PASSWORD! The strength of your login password plays a huge role in your WordPress security. You should also avoid using default usernames like "admin" and create unique usernames that are uch more difficult for hackers to guess. Using strong passwords that combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters will also add a considerable level of security to your WordPress site. I know that remembering passwords that are 16 or more characters long is not the easiest thing to do. For this reason, you should consider using a reputable password manager to generate and store complex passwords securely. At Full Scope Creative, we use https://1password.com/ to store the many passwords and login credentials we need. Install Security Plugins One of the great many strengths of WordPress is the near unlimited array of plugins available to help your site. WordPress offers several fantastic security plugins designed to strengthen your site's defenses. Popular security plugins like Wordfence, Sucuri Security, and iThemes Security provide features such as firewall protection, malware scanning, login attempt limiting, and real-time alerts for suspicious activity. Install a reputable security plugin that suits your needs and configure it to regularly scan your site for potential threats. These plugins act as proactive guards, continuously monitoring and protecting your WordPress site from malicious attacks. With these security plugins, one of the best things you can do or your site is to automatically block common usernames. As mentioned before, using a non-obvious username adds security, but outright blocking the common ones helps as well. When Full Scope Creative enables programs like this we will block usernames such as admin, the business name (fullscopecreative), the domain name (fullscopecreative.com and fullsopecreativedotcom), as well as obvious admin accounts such as FullScopeAdmin. Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) Protection A Web Application Firewall (WAF) adds an great layer of security by filtering and blocking malicious traffic before it reaches your WordPress site. You can opt for a plugin-based WAF solution or leverage a server-level firewall provided by your hosting provider. WAFs protect against common threats like DDoS attacks, SQL injection attempts, and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. By implementing WAF protection, you create a robust defense mechanism that shields your site from a wide range of cyber threats. At Full Scope Creative, we offer Astra Security licenses as a great option to provide this level of security to a site. With Astra we can scan sites for malware, clean up any issues, and detect which IP addresses are trying to breach a site and then block them. Protect Your Site and Your Business By following these top four security measures—keeping software updated, using strong credentials, installing security plugins, and implementing WAF protection—you can significantly enhance your site's security and protect your site and your business against potential threats. Prioritize security best practices to ensure a safe and secure online experience for your visitors and maintain the integrity of your WordPress site.

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