by Michelle Grace

Security should be considered when building a website especially if it’s a business website. I assumed you’ve heard about some of these things: hacked business websites, servers and loss of important data are stored on the servers, malicious scripts problem on websites and a lot more.

Most websites nowadays uses CMS for maintaining and updating contents. One of the most common CMS used is WordPress.

There are many WordPress security plugins that are available for free. But what I’m going to share are those with high user ratings and good feedback. They are proven and tested, and can guarantee 100% WordPress site security.

1. Hide WordPress Version

This is a free WordPress plugin that “hides” the version of your WordPress. Hackers first analyze their target before attacking. Basically they check the website’s background. If they know your website is hosted by WordPress, they find out what WordPress version you are using. With that info, they can already hack your website.

Hide WordPress Version has the ability to remove the entire generator tag output. It doesn’t declare the scripts and stylesheets version and automatically removes the update notice.

You can get Hide WordPress Version here: Hide WordPress Version

2. Login Lockdown

When website owners forget passwords, they normally just hit Forgot Password and wait for the new password. Professional hackers, on the other hand, would try to get access into website accounts by logging in multiple times using different username and password combinations.

Login Lockdown is a WordPress plugin that is capable of recording the IP address of every failed login attempt. If numerous failed attempts are detected, this plugin disables the login function for that IP range.

You can edit the settings for Login Lockdown depending on how you want the plugin to function. Refer to the screenshot below:

Set the maximum login retries. Try 2 to 3 times. More than 4 times is already excessive. You might be giving hackers more opportunity to discover your password that way. Retry time periods also needed to be set as well as the lockout length. Click Update Settings when you’re done.

On the bottom corner, you’ll see a list of IP address that will be locked out. There is also an option for removing any locked out IP in case it got there by mistake.

To download Login Lockdown Plugin, click here: Login Lockdown

3. WordPress Firewall

WordPress Firewall protects against malicious scripts that gets installed into your site.

You can change the setting once you have installed this plugin. Refer to the image below:

Add an email where the attack reports will be sent.

There is also an option for listing down IPs which will not be subjected to security rules.

You can get the plugin here: WordPress Firewall

4. Ultimate Security Checker

Another WordPress security plugin that prevents website fraud, hackers and malicious scripts is the Ultimate Security Checker. This plugin scans your blog and update you of any problems or threats. It provides danger levels along with recommendation how to fix them.

To set the plugin, go to Tools and then click Ultimate Security Checker. You can run a test to analyze files and fix issues that may be found.

You can get the plugin here: Ultimate Security Checker

Prevention is better than cure, as they say. WordPress provides these free plugins to help users implement website security. Having these plugins will help you be rid of Internet frauds and maintain a well-functioning website.

So if you are using WordPress, you can install some of these security plugins to keep all your data safe.

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Sources:
Securing Your WordPress Blog Against Hackers
Hide WordPress Version
Login Lockdown
WordPress Firewall
Ultimate Security Checker