WordPress Security
Harden WordPress so risk is reduced, named and recoverable.
Access control, update hygiene, plugin discipline, malware response, backups and recovery planning for WordPress properties that cannot treat security as a checkbox.
Controls, not slogans
WordPress security is a set of practices and a recovery path.
Most WordPress incidents start with stale plugins, shared logins, unused administrators or a backup that was never restored. Hardening, roles, update discipline and malware response are the work. Backups and recovery are part of the same brief, because a locked-down site that cannot be restored is still fragile. We do not claim a site can be made invulnerable, and we will not sell a plugin as if it were.
Typical constraints
Risk accumulates in ordinary admin habits.
- 01Administrators, leftover contractor accounts and shared passwords are still active.
- 02Plugins and themes are outdated, abandoned or installed for a feature nobody uses.
- 03There is no hardening of login, file access or environment configuration.
- 04Malware or defacement was cleaned once, and the entry path was never found.
- 05Backups exist, but recovery has never been rehearsed under time pressure.
- 06A security plugin was installed and then treated as the entire programme.
What you receive
A control set and an incident path, written down.
The output is specific to the stack. We will not present a generic badge or a claim that attacks will stop.
01
Access and role review
Users, roles, leftover accounts and login practices reduced to the people who still need them.
02
Hardening pass
Login, file, environment and configuration changes appropriate to the host and the site's real exposure.
03
Plugin and update hygiene
Abandoned or unnecessary plugins removed, and an update path that does not wait for an incident.
04
Malware and integrity review
A scan and file review when compromise is suspected, plus the likely entry path if it can be established.
05
Backup and recovery plan
Backups that can be restored, with a written incident path for who does what when something fails.
How security work is sequenced
Access first. Then surface. Then recovery.
We start with who can do what. Cosmetic hardening on a site with leftover administrators is theatre.
01
Access review
Users, roles, SSH or host access, and secrets that should have been rotated already.
02
Surface hardening
Login, XML-RPC, file permissions and environment settings tightened to match the host.
03
Plugin and update hygiene
The installed set is reduced, and updates are put on a cadence that maintenance can keep.
04
Backup and recovery
Backups are verified with a restore, and the incident path is written for the people who will actually act.
05
Malware scan
When compromise is in scope, files and persistence are reviewed. Cleanup without the entry path is incomplete.
06
Incident path
What happens on suspicion, who is called, and what is out of scope. No theatrical 24/7 claim.
When this is the right entry
Security work is for properties where an incident would be expensive.
- A WordPress site with leftover users, shared logins or no update owner.
- A store or lead site that has already had malware or defacement.
- A property about to go through a migration or redesign, where access should be cleaned first.
- A team that installed a security plugin and still has no recovery plan.
- A client or insurer asking for hardening evidence that is more than a screenshot of a badge.
What we judge
Success is fewer open doors and a recovery path that exists.
Fewer unnecessary accounts and plugins
The admin is reduced to people and software that still have a job.
A harder surface, honestly described
Login and configuration are tightened. Residual risk is named instead of hidden behind a guarantee.
Recovery that has been practised
Backups restore. The incident path is written. The next event starts from a procedure, not a blank page.
Related work
Security work is not advertised with fake incident counts.
We will not invent a breach we stopped or a site we made unbreakable. Approved hardening or recovery work appears in Work only when the client wants it discussed.
Published case studies will appear here when they are cleared.
Related services
Work that usually sits beside this.
- WordPress MaintenanceUpdates, monitoring and editorial support that keep a live WordPress property stable.
- WordPress MigrationControlled migrations that preserve URLs, content models and tracking integrity.
- Custom WordPress DevelopmentBespoke themes, blocks and integrations built around your product and operations.
Questions
Buying questions, answered directly.
No. WordPress, plugins, hosting and human access all remain attack surface. We reduce ordinary risk, close leftover doors and make recovery possible. Anyone promising invulnerability is selling a story.
Next move
Security is a practice, not a plugin checkbox.
Tell us who has admin access, what is installed and whether you already suspect a compromise. We will map hardening, cleanup or a recovery rehearsal.