With it’s high profile and incredible proliferation as a site-building platform, WordPress is a big target for exploitation by hackers and spammers. An out of date plugin or WordPress install, or an admin password guessed through brute-force can turn your amazing site into a breeding ground for spam (both comment and email).
Luckily, you aren’t defenseless in the fight. Many plugins exist to help keep your blog safe, backed up and to notify you of needed security updates. Here are 4 of our top recommended security plugins for WordPress 3.6:
This! It will notify you of chinks in your armor – from insecure permissions and using the “Admin” username, all the way to emailing you notifications when your WordPress and plug-ins fall out of date. Given what a massive target WordPress is, this the one extension that every WordPress site should have installed.
Having a backup can turn having a catastrophic problem into a minor hiccup. This is as true with your website as it is with your hard drive. Make this an automated task by using the WordPress Backup to Dropbox plugin.
Bonus: Use the Hazel app to archive the backup locally once it exists in your Dropbox for an extra layer of security.
It’s included with all WordPress installations and for good reason. It helps to keep the spam-bots from using you beautiful site to advertise for online casinos and pharmaceuticals (among others).
You know those annoying “Enter the Code Above:” boxes that you sometimes find when sending a message via a website or registering for a site? They may be an inconvenience to you but they can also be an insurmountable roadblock for spam-bots. Yet another powerful tool in the arsenal of protecting your site from the unwanted scum of the internet.
Do you have a favorite WordPress security plugin? Let us know in the comments.
