WordPress Best Practices for Security in 2024

As the most popular platform for web development, WordPress is a natural target of security threats. The WordPress community continually keeps pace with these using a wide range of security tools making use of the latest threat definitions and AI analytics. But there’s still a lot agencies can do to ensure their WordPress sites are secure. We’d like to share tips about WordPress security from our experiences of working with 600+ digital agencies.

Agencies Are Under-prioritizing Safety

Going into 2024, most WordPress security threats include outdated CMS or outdated third-party plugins and themes as an entry vector.

• The WordPress sites we onboard for maintenance at White Label Agency typically contain around 10 third-party plugins each.
• The majority of WordPress sites use a third-party theme, many from smaller publishers.
• Almost a quarter of WordPress sites haven’t yet shifted to version 6, with only a third running version 6.4.
• More than half of the WordPress sites our Maintenance team at White Label Agency onboards contain outdated versions of WordPress Core or outdated third-party plugins.

What Can Your Agency Do?

The main approach for ensuring security in 2024 will continue to hinge on the fundamentals of website design and maintenance. Still, for the security-minded agency, the WordPress ecosystem offers even further proactive measures for safety.

Custom-Themes: Tailored for Safety

Investing in a custom theme as part of a premium service optimizes your website’s security with specialized tools. While free themes provide basic safety measures, WordPress security standards are more robust in custom themes. The focus on individualized needs and security considerations makes it a smart investment for any agency.

Security audits and penetration testing are crucial tools for ensuring your website’s safety. Security audits go beyond scanning common issues, offering a systematic examination of safety policies and procedures. The audit process afterward is complemented by penetration testing, a standout practice for strengthening website safety. It involves simulated cyber attacks to evaluate security and identify potential vulnerabilities, such as attempting unauthorized access or bypassing safety measures.

Custom themes are built to scale, making clean coding crucial for optimal website functionality. Secure coding libraries offer developers guidance on implementing seamless plugin and theme compatibility. These libraries include pre-written code snippets that are significantly shorter (one-tenth the length) compared to pre-designed theme code. Frameworks further streamline development by providing predefined structures for building themes or plugins, allowing developers to readily create secure code.

Maintenance: Keeping Security Up-to-Date

In terms of maintenance, regular updates are crucial. Whether it’s the WordPress core, themes, or plugins, consistently checking in the WP administrator is vital for website security. The primary and most significant risk posed by delayed updates is an increased vulnerability to security breaches. Outdated data becomes an easy target for hackers, making the site susceptible to potentially brute force attacks, cross-site scripting, and SQL injections.

Here’s what White Label Agency’s COO Bobby recommends:

“Google Alerts is a helpful tool to use if you want to stay informed about any problems with WordPress. Just set it up and use phrases like ‘WordPress vulnerability’ or ‘WordPress plugin security’ to get updates on any issue.“

Updating your website is crucial for maintaining WordPress security and optimal functionality. However, it’s equally important to conduct a complete backup before applying any updates. This backup serves as a safety net, allowing you to quickly restore your website to its previous state if any unforeseen issues arise during the update process.

Due to the close link between maintenance and hosting, the significance of a reliable host cannot be overstated; it forms the foundation of a robust security infrastructure. It’s advisable to choose a provider specifically designed for hosting WordPress sites, one with a proven track record in the industry.

Tips for Optimizing WordPress Security

The main approach for ensuring WordPress security in 2024 will continue to hinge on the fundamentals of website design and maintenance. Still, for the security-minded agency, the WordPress ecosystem offers even further proactive measures for safety.

WordPress Coding Standards

Securing your website demands a strategic approach that harmonizes functionality with risk reduction. Security-focused agencies should outweigh clean codes, especially when choosing and utilizing themes and plugins. Fortunately, WordPress provides coding standards that guarantee code consistency and maintainability. Moreover, sourcing themes and plugins from WordPress’s official directories, recognized as reputable sources, provides an additional layer of security to your website.

For the most robust security, minimizing reliance on third-party tools is recommended. Custom-coded solutions offer greater control and reduce the risks associated with third-party plugins and themes. Though it may require more effort initially, the long-term security benefits outweigh the investment.

Identity Theft Protection Services

Securing your website and protecting your customers’ personal information is equally important. Identity theft protection services play a crucial role in safeguarding both. These services monitor your website and databases for any attempts at identity theft or credit card fraud, providing valuable alerts and ongoing checks. Additionally, they offer assistance with resolution and recovery in the unfortunate event of a successful attack.

Small agencies are particularly vulnerable to such attacks due to their limited resources. A successful breach can cause critical damage and significant revenue loss, making identity theft protection services even more essential for them.

Elevate Your WordPress Security White Label Agency

At White Label Agency, we offer the perfect combination for optimal WordPress security: custom theme development and comprehensive maintenance plans. Our Maintenance customers receive industry-leading hosting on WPEngine, along with a monthly maintenance report that can be sent to clients. Besides the WP Engine, we provide essential services for maintenance strategy including daily cloud backups, tracking tickets, and generating client reports.

For custom WordPress development, we prioritize core, plugin, and theme updates to keep your client’s website bug-free, responsive, and secure. This proactive approach minimizes vulnerabilities and ensures a seamless user experience.

As a global leader in white-label WordPress outsourcing, we understand the unique needs of digital agencies. Our team is dedicated to providing you with the tools and resources you need to succeed. Reach out to our sales team today to discuss your specific needs and find the perfect service fit for your preferences.