Top 10 WooCommerce Security Tips To Keep Your Online Store Safe

While it is a desirable option for its flexibility and ease of use, it comes loaded with several functionalities.

If you are building a WordPress site or eCommerce platform for the first time, you may need to review the official documentation to understand everything that is offered.

And once you set up your online store, the security of your platform becomes the top priority.

Especially when you consider that new-age consumers prefer online shopping, and cybercrimes involving e-commerce data breaches and fraud are constantly on the rise.

And to help you with that, here are some of the best WooCommerce security tips to protect your shopping website.

WooCommerce is safe by default but not bulletproof

WooCommerce is an open-source platform that is actively maintained. Typically, you receive regular features and security updates to keep your experience safe.

However, a security issue can come as a surprise, such as a critical SQL injection vulnerability discovered in 2021.

While it was patched out of the box, this means that security issues can crop up no matter what.

• I prefer to use a local WordPress development tool to test and explore the options.
• Perform a manual backup before attempting to make security changes to your site.
• If you want to make changes to the live site, please put it into maintenance mode.
• I’d rather opt for a managed WooCommerce hosting solution if you want help implementing these tips.

Things to know before exploring safety tips

You don’t need to be a WordPress expert to follow these tips. However, there are a few points you need to know before proceeding further:

Avoid cheap hosting

No matter what you do, if your host is insecure, nothing can fix the security nightmare that comes with it.

So if you are considering using WooCommerce Development Agency in Lahore on your WordPress site to launch a shopping portal, you should go for premium WordPress hosting.

Not just for security, but there are several reasons to avoid cheap WordPress hosting in general.

Enable Two-factor authentication

You must prevent unauthorized access to prevent an attacker from accessing your site.

Typically, login security is weak leading to site hijacking.

To get started, your first step should be adding two-factor authentication (2FA) to website access. When enabled, you need an authentication code after logging in with your password. You can start using 2FA apps like Authy to set it up.

Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t give you the ability to add 2FA by default. Then you need to use some of the security plugins or 2FA Plugins.

You can also find a couple of WooCommerce plugins to allow users to register/secure accounts via their mobile and OTP numbers.

Strong Account Password Policy

Having 2FA enabled doesn’t mean you have to rely on a weak, easy-to-remember password. You need a strong password to make it difficult for a hacker to guess or try to brute force login.

Generally, you must combine alphabets, upper / lower case, numbers, and special characters (such as !, #, @ ) To form a complex password.

Of course, it may not be possible to remember complex passwords. Therefore, you may want to use password managers to make things easier.

Not only is it limited to your manager account, but you should also encourage your customers to have strong passwords.

Limit Login Attempts

A hacker can widely use a brute force attack to find a combination of passwords (via social profiles, phishing, and various other techniques).

To avoid this, you can simply use a plugin like Loginizer to limit login attempts on your WordPress site. If the number of attempts to access the account exceeds a certain limit, the IP address will be blocked, making it difficult for an attacker to access the account.

Use a Security Plugin

If you are not using a full security plugin for the 2FA feature, you may want to add a dedicated security plugin.

A security plugin automates protection for most of the common attacks expected on a WordPress website. You need to toggle a few options and refer to the onscreen instructions.

No technical experience is required to use these plugins.

To give you a head start, check out our list of safety add-ons suitable for the job.

Install an SSL Certificate

You need to activate/install an SSL certificate on your server to encrypt your visitors’ connections and protect your site.

It is often free and easy to enable SSL with a good web host.

Note that if you don’t have SSL active for your site, you will need to configure a few things before switching from HTTP to HTTPS.

Apply Enhanced Security Practices

In addition to the security add-on, there are a few additional measures you can opt for:

Some of the things may include:

• Have an activity log
• Uptime monitoring
• Deploying a cloud-based web application firewall (WAF)
• Change URL and admin username

You can go for some of the best WAF in the cloud and follow some of our essential tips to protect your website to do all of this.

Perform Regular Backups

Nothing is 100% piracy-proof. So get ready when all hell breaks loose.

And having a backup of your site, especially stored off-site, will help you quickly recover from any data loss or malicious modifications to your website.

You can choose to do this manually or use WordPress Backup Plugins.

Keep Things Up-to-date

While it can be tricky to constantly test available updates for themes, plugins, and WordPress, install them as soon as possible.

Don’t use questionable sources to get Free Premium Plugins or Themes

I’m sure it can be a costly effort to set up a perfect WooCommerce store, but don’t be fooled by the free premium themes/plugins.

Yes, they can do the job for free. But eventually, your online store could end up being the victim of a cyberattack, where you could end up losing more money.

WooCommerce security is more important than ever

With the increasing demand in online shopping, WooCommerce plays an important role in empowering WordPress-powered sites.