Top 5 WordPress Security Plugins For Your Website

WordPress Security is a large concern due to its increasing popularity and open source nature. Its popularity not only makes it super powerful but at the same time makes it susceptible to ongoing security issues.

Each week, Google blacklists around 20,000 websites for malware and around 50,000 for phishing. If you use WordPress, its high time to pay attention to the best practices you can adopt for its security. The WordPress Security Plugins help you protect your website against hackers and malware.

Although the core software of WordPress is very secure as it is being audited regularly by hundreds of developers, there is a lot that can be done to harden your WordPress website. Security is not just about risk elimination but it is also about risk reduction. As a website owner, there’s a lot that you can do to improve your WordPress security.

But, Why WordPress Security Is Important?

If a WordPress site is hacked, it can cause serious damage to your business revenue and reputation. Hackers not only steal user information and passwords but also install malicious software and can even distribute the malware to your users. What can be even worse is that you might end up paying ransomware to hackers so as to regain access to your website.

To make sure that your WordPress site is safe, it is highly recommended to keep your WordPress installation and plugins up to date. At the same time, it is also recommended to install and activate powerful security plugins that will further protect your site from malware attack.

What are Plugins?

Plugins are small pieces of software that can be uploaded to your WordPress site and activated to increase and expand your website’s performance. While some plugins are free of cost there are others for which one has to pay. Here are 5 picks for the best WordPress security plugins, both free and paid:

1. All In One WordPress Security – FREE – All in One WP Security Plugin is one of the most popular free security plugins. The credits for the popularity goes to the grading system which makes it easy to see what areas of your website are prone to the attacks of the hackers. The plugin also prevents the Brute Force Login attacks, by adding a limit to login attempts.

Along with a basic firewall, All in One WP security also helps in detecting file changes and also have an ability to blacklist users based on the IP address or proximity to an IP address. The list of features and advantages goes on and on and customer satisfaction is very much visible in its 2,00,000 installations.

2. WP Security Manager – PAID – WP Security Manager provides you with an array of security solutions which have an all in one easy to install plugin. The plugin helps the user to protect themselves from malicious IPs, Brute Force login attacks, and bots. Bots can become problematic on your site if hackers happen to create several fake accounts to spam your website with links redirecting to vulnerable malicious software.

WP Security Manager stops pesky bots from spamming your site with logins, registration and comment forms. Moreover, the WP Security Manager comes equipped with an in built detection system that will alert users to suspicious login activities.

3. iThemes WordPress Security – FREE AND PREMIMUM – With both free and premium version, there is really no excuse to not to have iThemes security on your website. Like most big security plugins for WordPress, iThemes security comes with a bunch of features that provide protection against some of the common security threats.

If the users will use this plugin, they will get Brute Force protection, the ability to hide admin and login pages and to blacklist the users who fail to login too many times. The plugin also enables you to use strong passwords and keep track record of all core files. The premium version of iThemes Security starts as low as $80/year and includes 12 months of support, updates and over 30 different premium security options.

4. WordFence – FREE AND PREMIUM – Till date, WordFence has been downloaded by somewhere around 14 million times and offers many useful features. The WordFence allows the users to block various IP addresses and countries from accessing their website. The users also have access to two factor authentication, custom alerts, and scans for file changes if any.

Most importantly, WordFence provides a web application firewall (WAF) that identifies the malicious traffic and blocks attacks before they get into your website. All of these security options along with others come free of cost, however, the premium version is available with advanced scanning options. A one year license costs around $59.

5. BulletProof WordPress Security – FREE AND PREMIUM – The bulletproof security plugin is easy to install with a one-click setup wizard. It comes loaded with highly beneficial features. All the users have access to login security and monitoring, full database backups and much more. The firewalls that come with all versions of this plugin protect users from over 100,000 different kinds of malicious attacks.

The bulletproof security pro starts at a one time cost of $59.95 and adds many more features such as anti-spamming, automated whitelisting, real-time file monitoring and much more.

Plugins are considered to be the most effective way of expanding your website’s functionality. Therefore, it is vital to protect your website with some of the many WordPress security plugins that are available. Do ensure that you backup your website before installing a plugin, as their code has been known to break websites. Therefore, it is better to be safe than to be sorry.

If security still worries you, leave it in the hands of Source Soft Solutions to take care of. All the websites designed and developed in WordPress theme comes with additional security plugins.

To know how Source Soft can help your business grow!