The login page of your WordPress website is the first access point for any hacker. If you don’t properly protect it, you may end up with more issues than you bargain for. Here are a few of the best ways to ensure your WordPress login page remains secure and protected.

Change the Username and Password

When you first get WordPress hosting and install WordPress, it will often assign you the username of “admin,” which is the most common username hackers will try to use. The first thing you should always do is change the username to something odd and unique.

WordPress will also give you the ability to generate a password, which will be a strong password. Make the generated password at least 12 characters and use it or another strong password. Avoid using common passwords, such as names, dates, strings of numbers, common words or anything else common. It’s best to break up words with symbols, capital letters and numbers within your passwords.

Use the Login Lockdown Plugin for WordPress

Logion LockDown is one of the best plugins you can use for your WordPress website. It will help to stop brute force attacks aimed at your login page. The plugin will lock out IP addresses trying to login more than a few times. You get to set the number of times you will allow before the IP address is locked.

Use SSL

Another great way to help secure your login page is with SSL or Secure Socket Layer. This is an extra form of security making your information unreadable when sent and received by your browser.

SSL is very easy to use with WordPress because you can simply use the Really Simple SSL plugin for WordPress. The WP Force SSL plugin is another good choice, but you will need to purchase an SSL certificate to use either plugin properly.

Mask your Login and Admin Page

If you want to make your security great, you can actually mask the login or WP-admin page with the Protect Your Admin plugin. If a hacker cannot find your login or admin page, they cannot get into your site.

Since most of the WordPress login and admin pages are the same, this makes it easy for hackers. However, this plugin will allow you to change the page and make it unique.

More Security Measures for WordPress

Along with using the above security measures for your WordPress login page, you should also choose your hosting company wisely. Some don’t have the best reputation for providing excellent security, while others provide the best security in the business.

You can also add a plugin, such as Wordfence or iThemes Security to give you even better protection. Other plugins such as, BackUp Buddy and VaultPress will ensure you have a backup of your site just in case you do get hacked.

Regardless of the security measures you choose to employ for your WordPress website you want to make sure you keep your login and admin page very secure. This will eliminate a large number of potential hacker issues as they go after your login page most often.