{"id":1370,"date":"2020-04-07T18:35:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T18:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.infotheme.net\/?p=1370"},"modified":"2020-04-07T18:35:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T18:35:42","slug":"how-to-conduct-security-audit-on-wordpress-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/how-to-conduct-security-audit-on-wordpress-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How to conduct Security Audit on WordPress Website"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Contents<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#WordPress_website_security_Audit\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">1<\/span> WordPress\nwebsite security Audit<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#What_is_Security_Audit_on_WP_website\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">2<\/span> What is\nSecurity Audit on WP website?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#When_to_Perform_Security_Audit_on_WP_website\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">3<\/span> When to\nPerform Security Audit on WP website?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#How_to_do_Security_Audit_on_my_WordPress_Website\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">4<\/span> How to do Security Audit on my WordPress Website?<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#Check_for_Latest_Updates\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">4.1<\/span> Check for Latest Updates<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Manage_your_website_Backup\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">4.2<\/span> Manage your website Backup<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Check_for_Unauthorized_Users\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">4.3<\/span> Check for Unauthorized Users<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Remove_unused_themes_and_plugin_files\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">4.4<\/span> Remove\nunused themes and plugin files <\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Prevent_your_website_from_Brute_force_attack_methods\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">4.5<\/span> Prevent your\nwebsite from Brute force attack methods<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Run_Security_Scans_on_your_website\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">4.6<\/span> Run Security\nScans on your website<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Find_and_eliminate_vulnerabilities\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">4.7<\/span> Find and\neliminate vulnerabilities<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"#Final_Words\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">5<\/span> Final Words<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<h2><span id=\"WordPress_website_security_Audit\">WordPress\nwebsite security Audit<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Regular\nmaintenance is very important for anything which you use in your life. If you\nwant to take best results from any product or service, it is very important to\ndo regular maintenance. For example: If you having a Car, you will need timely\nservice for this to run it in a smooth way and for a long time period as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a similar\nway, most of the internet users do use Antivirus program on their laptop or\ndesktop for regular scanning for virus and any other malware code. So that they\ncan keep their laptop\/desktop safe from unauthorized users access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same\nstrategy used on WordPress websites as well.&nbsp;\nIf you are having a WordPress blog or any other type of WordPress website,\nit is very important to keep your website up to date and perform time security\naudit as well. It will help you to keep your website safe and secure and also\nhelp popular search engines to keep your website in good ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once your\nuse your WordPress website for a long time, it could be possible that your\nwebsite may need some security audit. Most common reasons for security audit\nare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><em>An attacker might be targeting your website.<\/em><\/li><li><em>To look for some malware code or virus program code on your website.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Unauthorized user access for your website.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Any plugin or theme could open security breach.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Any malware code injection on website by any hacker using any contact form, image, plugin files, theme files, server security issue or any other issue.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Any user may have shared website login information with other user and their laptop\/desktop may be hacked.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Misuse of logins by any other users etc.<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\u2019t\nmatter what could happen but it is possible that by the time goes, our website\nmay have some security breach. So, it is important that we should check our\nwebsite for security related issues time to time to ensure that everything is\nfine on our website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this\narticle, we will understand about Security audits, when to perform it and how\nwe can perform that on our website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"What_is_Security_Audit_on_WP_website\">What is\nSecurity Audit on WP website?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As the name\nimplies WordPress Security Audit is a process of checking your website for\nsecurity related issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In simple\nwords, WordPress security audit is process to check your website code,\nfunctionality for any security related leak, or to look for any malware code\ninjection etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress\nsecurity normally contains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><em>Checking WordPress coer files for any virus or malware code.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Checking theme files for any unwanted or malware code.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Checking plugins files for any malware or unwanted code.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Keep your WP files upto date to latest version.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Update theme and plugins files to latest version.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Look for pages\/posts content for any unwanted or unauthorized content or code.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Checking for any unauthorized users access.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Saving website from any unauthorized access attack.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Applying 2- step security.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Changing passwords regularly.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Find and remove any virus code, malware code or any unwanted code from website.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Keep regular website backup so that you can use that on emergency situations.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Website speed, performance check and improve it.<\/em><\/li><li><em>Block spam comments, uploads etc.<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"When_to_Perform_Security_Audit_on_WP_website\">When to\nPerform Security Audit on WP website?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We are working\non WordPress websites from a very long time and from our experience we can say\nthat most of the WordPress websites to get hacked or get malware of virus code\non them due to Out dated WP software, Outdated plugin files, Out dated theme\nfiles etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I\nsuggest that check your WordPress website <strong>1-2\ntimes atleast in a month<\/strong> and check if is there any new update available for\nyour WordPress version, theme files or plugin files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Near about\n65% websites get hacked or get virus injection if we don\u2019t keep our website\nupto date with latest version of WordPress software or latest version of theme\nor plugin files. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apart from\nthis if you see any strange behaviour of your website which can include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><em>Suddenly your website slow downs<\/em><\/li><li><em>Unexpected links or content on your website<\/em><\/li><li><em>Unexpected page redirects<\/em><\/li><li><em>Unwanted pop ups<\/em><\/li><li><em>You witness sudden traffic drop on your website<\/em><\/li><li><em>If see any suspicious user accounts on your website, or you see logins from unexpected country or IP address.<\/em><\/li><li>And many more\u2026<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>On such cases, please don\u2019t wait for 1-2 week. Start\nperforming Security Audit on your WordPress website immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"How_to_do_Security_Audit_on_my_WordPress_Website\">How to do Security Audit on my WordPress Website?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Conducting security audit on your WP website could be a time consuming\nprocess as it will involve looking for every aspect of your website but in this\narticle, I will try to make it very simple and clear for you. In this way, you will\nbe able to do everything yourself by every simple steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><span id=\"Check_for_Latest_Updates\"><strong>Check for Latest Updates<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As I already\nexplained that most of the WordPress websites get security related issues due\nto old software, theme or plugin files. That is why it is very important to\nkeep your website up to date to the latest version. It will include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Check\nfor your WordPress version update time to time and keep it updated.<\/li><li>Use\nthe latest version of PHP software on your server.<\/li><li>Update\nyour theme to the latest version so that you can use all latest features and\nget security related as well from the theme Development Company or developer.<\/li><li>Check\nand update your plugin files to the latest version.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3><span id=\"Manage_your_website_Backup\"><strong>Manage your website Backup<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It is very\nimportant that you create regular backup of your WP website. In this way, you\nwill always have latest and working copy of your website in your safe locker.\nYou can download these backups on your local computer or, you can keep them\nsafe on server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These backup\nwill always give you confidence about dealing with emergency situations like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Some\nhacker has hacked your whole website and injected virus code everywhere<\/li><li>Your\nserver got hacked and now you want to move website to different server<\/li><li>You\nare not a programmer but your website got hacked and now you want to restore\nyour website.<\/li><li>If\nany case you want to run you old version of website.<\/li><li>You\ndon\u2019t want to remove any virus or malware code one by one checking all files\nand you want to safe time. In such situations you can use your website backup\nto restore your website.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In WordPress there are many Backup and Restore plugins available. You can\nuse them to create your website backup automatically and in very simple way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><span id=\"Check_for_Unauthorized_Users\">Check for Unauthorized Users<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It is very important that your\nwebsite admin panel should be accessed by verified users only.<br>\nSpecially, if you are running a blog where you allow users to register on your\nwebsite to post their articles or if you have any membership website.<br>\nIt is very important that you check your website users and check for any\nunwanted or unauthorized users. If you found any such users delete them from your\nadmin panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another very important part if use a\nsecure and safe password for your username and keep changing password time to\ntime. This will reduce the changes to misuse your username\/password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can\naccess your website active users from <strong>Users\n&gt; all users<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, you can\ndelete any user or change password for any user as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><span id=\"Remove_unused_themes_and_plugin_files\">Remove\nunused themes and plugin files <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Check your\nwebsite for any unused plugin or theme. If you are not using them anymore or\nyou don\u2019t have any plan to use them on near future. You can delete them from\nyour website admin panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It will keep\nyour website clean with only used coding files. Sometimes these old plugin\nfiles or theme files open up security vulnerabilities on your website and\nhackers can use these to put malware code on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, just make\nit simple, use only those themes and plugin which you need on your website and\nremove the unused things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><span id=\"Prevent_your_website_from_Brute_force_attack_methods\">Prevent your\nwebsite from Brute force attack methods<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Brute Force\nAttack is the simplest method to gain access to your WP website or your server.\nIt tries various combinations of usernames and passwords again and again until\nit gets in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Normally,\nyour website login page is the first part where attackers start using brute\nforce attack, it is important for you to make this page safe and secure. There\nare few important ways which you can use on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Change\nyour website default login page URL to something else.<\/li><li>You\ncan whitelisting IP which you want to give access to your website admin panel.<\/li><li>Block\nIP where you see frequently login attempt on your website.<\/li><li>Limited\nnumber of login attempt- In this method, you can restrict users\u2019 login attempt\nfor wrong username\/password. After these numbers of attempts, these users will\nget blocked automatically.<\/li><li>Implementing\ntwo factor authentication<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many WordPress security plugin available and you can use them for security audit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><span id=\"Run_Security_Scans_on_your_website\">Run Security\nScans on your website<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Perform security scan on your WP website using any WordPress Security plugin like: <br> <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wordfence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" aria-label=\"WordFence (opens in a new tab)\">WordFence<\/a>  or <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/security-malware-firewall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" aria-label=\"Security &amp; malware Scan (opens in a new tab)\">Security &amp; malware Scan<\/a> \u00a0 or any other plugin which you like.<br> <br> These plugins will scan your website and will let you know the recommended actions needed to perform on your website to make it clean and safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><span id=\"Find_and_eliminate_vulnerabilities\">Find and\neliminate vulnerabilities<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Your final\ntask will be to find and remove the vulnerabilities or any unwanted\/malware\ncode from your website. Once you perform a security scan on your website you\nwill get a list of required actions. It will let you know which file on your\nwebsite has malware or virus code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will\nneed to locate those files and either remove that malware code Or, replace that\nfile with new file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"Final_Words\">Final Words<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress\nwebsites are very easy to manage and work with but it is very important for\nevery user to keep updated to the latest version possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On every update\nfor WordPress version, you get security patch which increase security levels on\nyour website and in the similar way, regular update to theme files and plugin\nfiles increase the changes to keep your website safe and secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If unfortunately,\nsome hacker hacks your website or you get virus on your you have two options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Use your backup files to restore your\nwebsite<\/li><li>Use scan and clean your website<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope this article will help you to perform and good\nsecurity audit on your website and make your website more safe and secure.<br>\n<br>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contents1 WordPress website security Audit2 What is Security Audit on WP website?3 When to Perform Security Audit on WP website?4 How to do Security Audit [&hellip;] <span class=\"read-more-link\"><a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/how-to-conduct-security-audit-on-wordpress-website\/\">Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,135,132,7],"tags":[131,311,75],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1372,"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370\/revisions\/1372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infotheme.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}