WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world. According to W3Techs, WordPress powers 42.5% of all websites globally, giving it a commanding 59.8% share of the CMS marketplace.
As a result of its popularity, WordPress sites are one of the biggest targets for hackers. A single successful attack can lead to stolen data, a defaced website, or worse, a complete takeover. The scale of the problem is hard to ignore. According to the Melapress WordPress Security Survey 2025, 64% of WordPress site owners have experienced a full security breach, and 96% have dealt with some form of attack, whether that's a hacking attempt, suspicious login, or malicious code. The most common culprits? Weak passwords, outdated plugins, and vulnerable themes.
To keep your site safe, it needs to be up to date and free of security weaknesses. But here's the good news: it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive.
One of the easiest ways to stay on top of WordPress security is by using a managed WordPress hosting provider that handles much of it for you. EasyWP is built specifically for WordPress and comes with free, built-in security tools, like HackGuardian and MalwareGuardian, that work in the background to protect your site without the technical headache.
Whether you're on EasyWP or another hosting provider, here is a six-step action plan to secure your WordPress site.
WordPress do an excellent job of identifying vulnerabilities in their code and fixing them. And yet, many WordPress sites remain at risk, not because the fixes aren't available, but because updates don't always get applied in time.
The risks of falling behind on updates are real. According to Patchstack's State of WordPress Security Report 2026, the vast majority of WordPress vulnerabilities come from plugins and themes, not WordPress itself. So your site's security depends on every single extension you have installed, not just the core platform. For a small business, the consequences of a successful attack can be severe, from lost revenue and customer data to a damaged reputation that takes years to rebuild.
Thankfully, staying on top of updates doesn't require you to be a techie. Here are some simple ways to keep your WordPress site up-to-date.
It’s straightforward to understand when a new WordPress version is available, because a notification will pop up prompting you to upgrade:
Although it's usually perfectly fine to hit that button right away, making a complete site backup first could save you a lot of trouble. Your third-party plugins and any customizations you've made might not be compatible with the new version, which can result in errors or a broken design.
If you're on EasyWP, backing up your site couldn't be easier. Simply head to the Backups tab in the EasyWP Dashboard, give your backup a description, and hit Create Backup. Your backup will be ready within minutes, and you can restore it at any point if something goes wrong after an update.
EasyWP also makes the process of updating WordPress effortless. WordPress Automatic Updates keeps your core files, themes, and plugins up to date in the background, so you don't have to remember to do it manually.
Good security starts before your site even goes live. When you register a domain, your personal contact details, including your name, address, phone number, and email, are added to the public Whois database, where anyone can find them. This makes you an easy target for spammers, scammers, and identity thieves. That's why activating Whois privacy protection from the moment you register your domain is so important. Namecheap includes free lifetime Whois privacy protection with every domain registration, replacing your real contact details with anonymized information so your identity stays protected from day one.
Even if you're using the latest version of WordPress, your site may still be vulnerable to attack through flaws in PHP, the programming language that powers WordPress under the hood. Keeping PHP up to date is just as important as keeping WordPress itself updated, but it's not something most beginners need to manage manually. With a managed WordPress hosting provider like EasyWP, PHP is kept up to date for you as part of the service.
One of the biggest benefits of using WordPress is that it's so easy to add functionality through the use of plugins. As of 2026, there are over 62,000free plugins available through the official WordPress plugin directory, covering almost everything you can think of, from turning your site into a fully functional e-commerce store with WooCommerce, to boosting your SEO performance with a tool like Yoast SEO or Rank Math, all at the press of a button.
But that flexibility comes with a cost. Every plugin you install increases your site's complexity and adds additional code that could be vulnerable to attack. So the third step in our security action plan is to go through your site's installed plugins and remove anything you no longer need.
2. Select the Inactive filter (as shown below)This will list all the plugins on your website that are currently deactivated. Now, it might not necessarily mean you should remove them right away. But it’s a good place to start your cleanup.
Also look out for:
The bottom line is that every plugin you remove will improve your site's security. And when you've pared down your plugins to just what's needed, make sure everything remaining is updated to its most recent version.
3. To remove a plugin, select Delete beneath the plugin name. Confirm the deletion when prompted.
It's that simple. The plugin and all its files will be removed from your site. If you ever need it again, you can always reinstall it directly from the WP Admin > Plugins > Add plugin.
Code vulnerabilities aren't the only threat to WordPress websites. There's an equally significant one that affects almost every site: weak passwords. Therefore, adopting a proactive WordPress security plan is vital to prevent cyber criminals from reaping havoc on your business.
Some quick tips on managing your passwords:
Weak passwords are a major reason why attacks on WordPress sites are so common. Hackers use automation to run brute-force attacks, repeatedly guessing passwords until they find one that works, and they can target multiple sites at once without any manual effort.
Setting up 2FA on WordPress is straightforward. In case you’re not familiar with the term 2FA, here’s a quick breakdown. In a nutshell, this security method adds a second layer of protection to your account in addition to passwords. Instead of just typing in your credentials, you also need to verify logins via your mobile device.
One of the easiest ways is to install the free WP 2FA plugin by Melapress. Once installed, a setup wizard walks you through everything, just choose Google Authenticator as your authentication method, scan the QR code in the app, and you're done. The whole process takes just a few minutes, even if you've never used 2FA before.
Not sure which authenticator app to use? Google Authenticator is a popular and trusted choice, but there are other good options too, including Microsoft Authenticator and Authy. Our guide on setting up Google Authenticator for WordPress walks you through the process step by step.
WordPress features 2FA support on all recent versions, and every site owner should use it for added protection. It makes a successful brute-force attack almost impossible because authentication isn't tied solely to passwords any longer.
Even with 2FA or security keys in place, there is always the chance that an unknown code vulnerability might allow an attacker to access a protected account. So, the next step in our security action plan is to try and reduce the odds that an attacker will gain access to an account that can do significant damage. And this means reviewing the permissions granted to every account with access to your WordPress site.
By default, WordPress offers you 5 user roles:
Generally speaking, the best security posture permissions-wise is to keep super administrator and administrator accounts to a minimum – no more than two of each, and fewer if possible. Since those types of accounts represent the greatest potential for harm, the fewer of them you have, the safer your site will be. And although lower-level accounts like editors, authors, or contributors do have the right to make certain changes, they can't make system-wide changes and aren't as much of a threat.
That said, it's important to only grant users the minimum amount of permissions needed for their role. So if you've granted editor access to anyone that doesn't need it, reduce their access level. And if you have user accounts that are no longer necessary, the faster you get rid of them the better. Disused accounts can represent a threat that goes unnoticed until it's too late, so proper ongoing account maintenance is essential.
Here's how to review and tighten up your user permissions:
2. Look through the list and check the role assigned to each user.
3. If anyone has a higher role than they need, for example, an Editor role when they only write content, press Edit beneath their name and change their role to something more appropriate.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of their profile page and press Update User to save the change.
5. Look for any accounts that are no longer active or necessary, then hit Delete beneath their name to remove them entirely.
The final step is to turn off access to the built-in WordPress theme and plugin editor. If an attacker gains access to your admin panel, this removes their ability to directly edit your site's core files, making it significantly harder for them to inject malicious code or deface your site.
The good news is that if you're on a managed WordPress hosting platform like EasyWP, this is often handled for you automatically. Many security plugins also enforce this restriction, so it's worth checking whether your current setup already has it in place before making any manual changes.
If you're managing your own hosting and want to apply this manually, it involves adding a single line to your site's wp-config.php file. If you're not comfortable editing core files, it's worth asking your hosting provider or a developer to do this for you. One incorrect edit can cause your site to stop working.
If you're on EasyWP, you can go well beyond this with HackGuardian, a free tool that locks most of your WordPress files into a partial read-only mode. This means that even if an attacker manages to get into your admin panel, they won't be able to modify the critical parts of your site. Unlike traditional security measures, HackGuardian does this without altering your file permissions or ownership, so your site continues to function normally in the background.
HackGuardian also works alongside a Web Application Firewall (WAF), which screens all incoming traffic to your site and blocks suspicious requests before they can do any damage. Together, they create two complementary layers of protection. HackGuardian stops unauthorized changes to your files, while the WAF stops malicious traffic from reaching your site in the first place.
You can toggle it off temporarily whenever you need to install a plugin, update a theme, or make changes to your files, and switch it back on again straight after.
Combined with MalwareGuardian, which scans your site for malicious code, and WordPress Automatic Updates, which keeps your plugins and themes patched, HackGuardian forms part of the EasyWP Guardian Suite – a set of free, built-in tools that work together to keep your site protected 24/7.
Keeping your WordPress site secure doesn't have to feel overwhelming or complicated, and you can significantly reduce your risk without spending hours managing it yourself.
Just as a car with a visible security system is a less appealing target for thieves, these steps will make your site a much harder target for attackers. Stay on top of updates, trim unused plugins, tighten up your user accounts, and let tools like EasyWP’s HackGuardian and MalwareGuardian do the heavy lifting.
It's also a good idea to remove disused plugins and user accounts as often as possible. Then you can enjoy the many benefits of your WordPress website and rest a little easier knowing it's safe from harm.
The most effective way to secure a WordPress site is to layer multiple protections together. Start by keeping WordPress, your plugins, and your themes updated at all times. From there, activate two-factor authentication (2FA) on your account, use strong unique passwords, and remove any plugins or user accounts you no longer need. If you're on a managed WordPress hosting platform like EasyWP, many of these steps are handled automatically through built-in tools like HackGuardian, MalwareGuardian, and WordPress Automatic Updates.
The most common way WordPress sites get hacked is through outdated or vulnerable plugins and themes. According to Patchstack's State of WordPress Security Report 2026, the vast majority of WordPress vulnerabilities originate from plugins and themes rather than WordPress core itself. Attackers frequently exploit these vulnerabilities within hours of them being made public, which is why keeping everything updated and removing unused plugins is one of the most important things you can do to protect your site.
A dedicated security plugin can add a useful layer of protection to your WordPress site, particularly if you're on shared hosting without built-in security features. However, if you're on a managed WordPress hosting platform like EasyWP, you may already have robust security tools built in, such as HackGuardian, which locks your file system against unauthorized changes, and MalwareGuardian, which scans for malicious code. In that case, a separate security plugin may not be necessary. The most important thing is to make sure some form of active protection is in place, whether that comes from your host or a third-party plugin.
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