WordPress Security

Website Security

At Zonkey we recommend our clients use the Wordfence Security plugin and will install it as part of our maintenance packages (read more about our WordPress maintenance packages). In the following article, Wordfence explain why you should consider extra security measures for your website.

‘If you build a website using the newest software that has been verified to be secure and you implement good security policy, your website does not change, but the environment it is operating in changes. Attackers continually research the software that powers your website and vulnerabilities are eventually discovered in most popular online software.

Therefore the problem is that, while your website software starts off secure, it almost always ends up being insecure without anything changing on your website. It’s not your fault or the fault of the person who created your website. It is just the way of the online world. You might build a new website with the latest secure versions of WordPress and all of the relevant plugins and a theme. As time passes, vulnerabilities are discovered in your plugins, theme and the version of WordPress core you are using.

A WordPress security plugin provides many valuable functions, but at its most basic, a WordPress security plugin protects your website from attacks during the time it is vulnerable.

We do this in two ways. Wordfence provides a firewall that has rules that are constantly updated. At Wordfence, when we learn about a new security hole in software that you might use, we release a firewall rule to your site that allows Wordfence to block hackers from exploiting that security hole.

The second way we protect you is by providing a malware scan. Wordfence detects thousands of malware variants. If the worst happens and somehow a hacker does manage to penetrate your website, Wordfence alerts you to the presence of malware on your website and even helps you find it and remove it. Our malware signatures are also continually updated.

Wordfence provides many other security functions including two factor authentication, country blocking, brute force protection, rate limiting and more. But the most important function we provide is this: Wordfence protects your WordPress website once vulnerabilities are discovered in your previously secure website and before you have installed a fix.

Most websites are hacked as a result of an attacker gaining entry by exploiting a vulnerability in the website software. By using an effective WordPress firewall like Wordfence with a real-time Threat Defense Feed, you are protected, even if your website suffers from a vulnerability.’

Read more at www.wordfence.com.

Find out about our essential WordPress Maintenance Packages.