How to Keep Your WordPress Theme and Plugin Code Secure

Are you a lucky WordPress website owner? Then you will need to learn how, sooner or later, to keep your WordPress theme and plugin code secure. You will be able to make use of the tips we are about to provide in the detailed step-by-step WordPress plugin protection and WP theme security guide below, regardless of how much you know about web creation at the moment. These tips will optimise your WP protection measures until applied and they will keep your WordPress website out of the way of damage for years. So, let’s stop burning daylight and get down to WordPress sites’ bulletproof security business, shall we?

There are several reasons why it makes sense to begin taking care of your WordPress website’s safe. For instance, hosting WordPress draws more scrutiny than most content management systems from hackers worldwide. Such as brute force attacks attempting to force login, sql injection, and other types of malicious code attempting to hack their security flaws against WordPress, WordPress website and database backup. This publicity is a natural negative byproduct of the success of WordPress. Would you aim to find a key to more than 19,000,000 already existing WordPress websites if you were a hacker? That’s it, you’ll do it.

Moreover, if you build it with a WordPress theme that is not adequately protected in the first place, a WordPress website can be an easy target for hackers. The only way to ensure that the future website is safe is to follow the best security practise and purchase a WordPress theme from a well-known theme house. It goes without saying that the more a theme house is on the internet market, the more themes it provides for WordPress. In other words, a competent WordPress theme significantly decreases the risks of the website being compromised (but does not rule out the possibility!).

How to Keep Your WordPress Theme and Plugin Code Secure?

Adjust User Roles with Caution

All WordPress themes encourage you, as you probably know, to handle user roles. Every user function, i.e. administrator, writer, author, contributor, and subscriber, means a certain collection of permissions that can or cannot be exercised by a user for operations.

Truth be told, it is advisable to stick to the five default user roles mentioned above for a novice. But if customizing user functions is completely important, obey these basic rules. Firstly, to smooth the modification process, install a stable plugin, like User Function Editor. Secondly, with care, change user positions. One small error will cost you all of your WordPress website’s content. The stakes are high, huh?

Disable File Editor

The insecurity of your File Editor is one of the most popular security concerns with a WordPress style. When the files are accessed by a hacker, they may undergo multiple modifications, including removing or reorganizing. That is why it could be useful for your WordPress website to uninstall the Editor. The File Editor has at least two secure ways to uninstall it. There are:

Get the MalCare Protection Plugin installed. Within seconds, this protection plugin will allow you to disable the File Editor. MalCare is a universal plugin that enables you to quickly search, disinfect, and secure your WordPress website, giving you the full spectrum of security services. In addition, this plugin allows you the utmost power over stopping several suspicious activities, such as numerous unsuccessful login authentication attempts, third-party PHP file execution, etc. Simply put, if you are not a web development guru and do not have an MSc in Computer Science, then when it comes to the protection of your WordPress website, MalCare should be your #1 pick.
Insert this line of code below at the bottom of your wp-config.php file

Disable PHP Error Reporting

PHP mistakes are genuinely insightful and can help you diagnose multiple problems on the web. Some possible errors or alerts will give away key details about the code or directory structure that can be used to compromise when error logging is allowed. For example, the path where this error happened can be illustrated by a PHP error. As a consequence, the mistake can be monitored by a hacker to enter the directory structure of your WordPress website. Nobody’s going to like that, right? This is why removing PHP error monitoring by injecting this code into your wp-config.php configuration makes sense:

Remember to Update Your WordPress Theme and Plugins

Any flaw is like a welcome mat for a hacker in your old version of a WordPress website, a great base for security risks. Developers release patches a number of times when they discover a flaw in themes or plugins or even the heart of WordPress. If an upgrade is missed by a website user, it means the bugs are not fixed. This enables the breach of the WordPress website. If you periodically upgrade the WordPress theme and all plugins, you immediately minimize the chance to be a priority.

The fact is, your File Editor needs to be activated to upgrade your WordPress theme along with the loaded plugins. Otherwise, with all the unfixed glitches, the WordPress website would get trapped.

This takes us to the next question, namely, “Does it really make sense, for the sake of security, to disable the File Editor and then allow it to upgrade my website?” “Yes” is the reaction.

Let’s imagine the concept and think about your website for WordPress as if it was a home, shall we? Then, figuratively speaking, it would be like locking the front door to delete the File Editor, while upgrading can be likened to washing. To live happily in your home, to protect the house from break-ins, you need to lock the front door and then unlock the same door to get inside and constantly keep things clean. For a WordPress website, the same strategies work. Next, you uninstall the File Editor to keep “burglar-proof” your website. You then encourage the File Editor to upgrade the theme and keep the code clean. Then, by disabling the File Editor to keep it secure, you “lock” the website again. That sounds fair, doesn’t it?

Revisit the Plugins List

Installing hundreds of WordPress plugins to create a super-engaging WordPress website is a common error for a newbie. But some of the plugins turn out to be unnecessary, overlapping, or malfunctioning, as it always happens. Any create bugs that can be used to reach the site by hackers. That is why, in the first place, you need to know how to pick the right WordPress plugins for your blog. Also, make it a routine to conduct a detailed review biannually, i.e. every six months, of all plugins on your WordPress website. Sort these plugins into those that are to be maintained and those that are to be removed or removed.

Notice Bene: Make sure you know the difference between deactivating a plugin and removing it.

A plugin remains a part of the WordPress toolkit until deactivated. This means that this plugin can be triggered anytime you feel like it.
A plugin would vanish from your admin panel if removed. As a consequence, all the knowledge associated with this plugin vanishes along the way.

But because it is still possible to hack deactivated plugins, the recommendation is to just uninstall the plugins you don’t need.

Validate Data for Web Forms

Web forms are critical resources to help you get in contact with the target audience. Unfortunately, it’s also easy to use them to fuck up your WordPress website. Exactly how? In a web form, a hacker can inject a damaging code into a package. The code will do a lot of damage if obtained and validated by your website, from showing unwanted ads on your website to damaging sensitive data. Installing data authentication plugins is the best way not to let it happen.

Key Takeaways

For most WordPress websites, security has become a raging concern. However, the good news is that you can self-secure your WordPress theme and plugins. You will need to take the steps that fall under one of the two classifications below to do so. The first group includes one-time steps that you can add to improve the protection level on your WordPress website right now. As long as you own a WordPress domain, the latter type will demand your relentless attention.