Mastering WooCommerce Security – The Definitive Guide!
Introduction
You won’t lose much when your blogging website gets hacked. However, bulletproof security is compulsory for e-commerce websites. Your e-commerce store isn’t just a revenue generator, but a repository of personal client data like payment information, addresses, names, ages, and more. You can’t rely on the basic in-built security features of WooCommerce.
Big e-commerce store owners pay top dollar for tightening the security of their websites with WooCommerce development services. Follow these tips to improve the security of your WooCommerce website.
1. Don’t cheap out on the hosting provider
All attacks would start with the hosting provider and you leave your site vulnerable if you go cheap on the first line of defense. Hosting providers that cost more provide important features and robust security is one of them. Choose a hosting provider that has a built-in firewall. It keeps away bots and black hat hackers from accessing your files.
Reputable hosting providers also store several copies of your website on different servers. They keep their server software updated and add SSL certificates to your website. With free or cheap hosting providers, these features are kept behind a paywall. They also routinely conduct security scans for malware and have a dedicated support team to help you out and recover your website when things go south.
2. Activate 2FA
You also need to implement 2FA(2-Factor Authentication) into the login page of WooCommerce. Whether it’s you or third-party administrators that manage the website, with 2FA, you reduce the risks of unauthorized access. When you activate 2FA, you’ll need to provide your login credentials and an additional OTP(One-Time-Pin or Passcode) that’s generated on your Authenticator app or sent to your mobile number.
3. Establish improved security measures
You need to establish excellent security measures with the best industry practices to protect your WooCommerce Security store from malicious attacks. Also, don’t forget to add an activity log, change the admin username along with the URL, and implement a strong cloud-hosted WAF(Web Application Firewall).
Adding an uptime monitoring feature also lets you know when the site is down, or has an error. If this sounds too much, you can always share the burden with a web development outsourcing company and focus on improving your products.
4. Create backups
You’ve chosen an industry leader like SiteGround as your WooCommerce hosting provider and have chosen a plan that has the auto-backup feature. While that’s a good measure to prepare for the worst situations, you can never go wrong with additional layers of countermeasures. You need to deploy a robust backup plan so that you can restore your website as quickly as possible to maintain high user satisfaction levels.
Use a highly reputable and trusted backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or BlogVault to back up everything from plugins, themes, and uploads to databases and any other additional files. You can also hire dedicated WooCommerce developers to implement real-time backups. This saves a copy of your site every time you make a sale, update the About US page, post a blog, or make any other changes to your site.
5. Deploy a strong FTP policy
When you manage or make changes to your site, you’ll need to use File Transfer Protocol(FTP) to transfer files between your website server and your own computer. Your hosting provider allows you to create FTP accounts to accomplish this task. Unfortunately, malicious actors are always on the lookout for vulnerable FTP accounts.
To eliminate such vulnerabilities, you’ll need to deploy a strong FTP policy. If you decide to share FTP accounts with a WooCommerce Security development company, an independent contractor, or a friend to manage your website, make sure that they have limited permissions. Those FTP accounts shouldn’t have access to the root directory or sensitive folders like wp-content, Wp-includes, or Wp-admin.
6. Use trusted tools
You’ll end up using multiple themes and plugins for your WooCommerce store. If you try to save a few bucks by using an untrusted source to install plugins or themes, you expose your website to risks. Don’t even consider pirated versions of premium plugins since they are packed with malware to steal sensitive data from your website and compromise its security.
Demand for WordPress websites powered by WooCommerce keeps rising as the demand for online shopping is constantly on the rise. Despite their in-built security, hackers will always try to exploit your online store if they have an incentive. You can avoid that by implementing the solid security tips in this post.
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