WordPress Security Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide

WordPress is one of the most popular CMSs in the world. However, more than 70 million insecure plugins and themes are installed on WordPress websites. Yet, most website owners go years without monitoring their site’s security status; no surprise they were the first to get hacked.

It means that knowing the vulnerabilities is the first step towards addressing them and protecting the website from hackers. This is where WordPress security audits come in.

What is a WordPress Security Audit?

A WordPress Security Audit is an in-depth assessment of your WordPress website’s security at any given time. It detects critical regions and investigates them for problems, weaknesses, and potential intrusions. During the Security Audit process, you will check for suspicious behavior, malicious code, odd performance decreases, and dysfunctional security setups, and then take measures to identify and resolve the issues.

When to Conduct a WordPress Security Audit?

A WordPress security audit at least once every three months. This helps you stay on top of security gaps and address them before they become problems. However, you should conduct a security audit promptly if you find anything unusual.

For example:

• Your website has suddenly become laggy and sluggish.
• You observe a decline in visitors to your website.
• Your website has suspicious new accounts, requests for forgotten passwords, and login attempts.
• You see strange links starting to show up on your website.

That being stated, let us look at how to perform a WordPress security audit.

How to Conduct a Security Audit on Your WordPress Website

To help you perform WordPress security audits, we’ve compiled a list of 8 steps for you to follow. It is not thorough, but it will cover the most significant topics. These are:

1. Update WordPress Plugins, Themes and Core

WordPress upgrades are among the most important acts necessary for website security. They are critical for preventing and eliminating security risks. Always keep your WordPress plugins, themes, and core up to date. You may do this simply by selecting “Updates” immediately from within the WordPress dashboard.

• Review Your User Accounts and Passwords

Review WordPress user accounts by going to the Users > All Users page. If you find any questionable user accounts, remove them. If your WordPress website does not need users to create an account, make sure the “Anyone can register” option is deactivated (unchecked) under Settings > General.

In addition, inactive/idle user accounts must be monitored regularly. Then, after a certain time, erase all unused accounts.

• Get Rid of Any Unused or Abandoned Plugins And Themes

Unused or abandoned WordPress plugins and themes might be a security risk to your website. Good code must be maintained. If it is abandoned by the developer, your site may include obsolete, incompatible, and even insecure code.

These plugins and themes should be uninstalled from your website entirely, and replacements be found.

• Check WordPress Website Analytics

Website analytics allow you to track traffic on your website. This might also be a good general measure of your website’s health.

An application performance monitoring tool like Google Analytics can show performance issues, spikes, and drops in traffic, whether your site has been banned or not. On the other hand, a tool like Google Search Console sheds light on how healthy your website is and what it looks like in terms of Google search.

While these tools may not explicitly inform you of a security vulnerability on your website, they can signal a concern based on the consequences of these issues.

• Examine the Settings for Your WordPress Security Plugin

A security plugin is crucial for monitoring and guarding against attacks. Your WordPress security plugin should offer a fast overview of your security posture. When it identifies something that needs attention, follow the advised procedures to remedy the concerns.

• Examine the Permissions You Currently Have

Review and prohibit access to certain user roles. Only website administrators should have complete access to your website’s admin section.

The quickest method to do this is to use the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP). This is a security principle that necessitates restricting WordPress user access permissions. Each user position should only have access to the portions of your website that they need to do their job.

You’ll want to limit administrator access to only those who need full site access.

• Take A Look at Your Present FTP User Permissions

FTP users may access your WordPress core files, themes, and plugins. This authorizes them to insert malicious code into your files, create backdoors, or make other alterations that might lead to significant security breaches.

FTP provides the most comprehensive admin access to a WordPress site. Even if FTP users have good intentions, they may unintentionally remove or edit crucial files, causing your website to malfunction and become inaccessible to your consumers.

Review user permissions to verify that they only have access to what is essential.

• Harden Your WordPress Security

In other words, hardening WordPress security is all about proactively taking care of your website concerning future vulnerabilities or security concerns in general. Hardening, in this case, signifies deploying various measures of security to protect your website against unauthorized access, data breaches, and other security issues.

WordPress suggests the following hardening techniques to make your site safer:

• Disable the file editor in plugins and themes.
• Disable plugin installation.
• Resetting WordPress keys and salts.
• Enforcing strong password
• Limiting WordPress login attempts.
• Implementing two-factor authentication.

To Summarize

A security audit is not a one-time thing. It is a continuous process of examination and adjustment.

Sometimes you make modifications and changes and then forget about them, only to realize the impact a few weeks later. A frequently made evaluation of your security and site performance will allow you to detect and handle issues like these before they become larger problems.

The key to all of this is a schedule. Schedule a regular time to go over your checklist and ensure that nothing is incorrect.

People Also Ask!

1. What is a WordPress Security Audit? A WordPress Security Audit is a thorough examination of your website’s security to identify vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and potential intrusions. It helps you detect and address security issues before they become major problems.
2. When should I conduct a WordPress Security Audit? Ideally, conduct a security audit at least once every three months. However, you should also perform an audit immediately if you notice any unusual activity, such as a sudden drop in traffic, suspicious login attempts, or strange links appearing on your site.
3. How often should I update WordPress, plugins, and themes? Regularly update WordPress, plugins, and themes to the latest versions. Updates often include critical security patches that address known vulnerabilities.
4. How can I review and manage user accounts? *Review user accounts regularly, remove any suspicious accounts, and deactivate the “Anyone can register” option if not needed. Also, regularly delete inactive or idle user accounts.
5. Why should I remove unused plugins and themes? Unused or abandoned plugins and themes can pose security risks as they may contain outdated, incompatible, or insecure code.
6. How can website analytics help with security? Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console can help identify unusual traffic patterns, performance issues, and other anomalies that may indicate a security problem.
7. What is the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP)? PoLP is a security principle that dictates that users should only have access to the information and resources they absolutely need to perform their jobs. This helps to minimize the potential impact of a security breach.
8. Why should I limit FTP user permissions? FTP users have significant access to your website’s files. Restricting their permissions helps to prevent unauthorized file modifications and potential security breaches.
9. What are some key WordPress hardening techniques? Key hardening techniques include disabling the file editor, disabling plugin installation, resetting keys and salts, enforcing strong passwords, limiting login attempts, and implementing two-factor authentication.
10. Is a security audit a one-time event? No, a security audit is an ongoing process. Regularly review your website’s security posture and make necessary adjustments to ensure ongoing protection.

Disclaimer: This information is for general knowledge and guidance only and does not constitute professional security advice.

Secure Your WordPress Site Today!

Don’t leave your website vulnerable to hackers! At Site Architects, we specialize in robust WordPress security audits to identify risks and implement top-notch protections.

Let’s make your site hack-proof. Contact us now to secure your website and gain peace of mind.