WordPress Security for UK SMEs: A Practical Hardening Checklist

WordPress powers a huge portion of the web, which means it attracts constant automated scanning. That doesn’t mean WordPress is “unsafe”— it means you need basic operational controls. For UK SMEs, the aim is simple: reduce risk, keep the site stable, and ensure recovery is quick.

What actually compromises SME sites

• Outdated plugins/themes with known vulnerabilities.
• Weak admin credentials or reused passwords.
• No MFA on administrator accounts.
• Insecure hosting defaults (permissions, exposed admin endpoints, no rate limiting).
• Bad backups (or backups that can’t be restored).

Updates and plugin hygiene

• Keep WordPress core updated (enable auto-updates where appropriate).
• Audit plugins quarterly: remove anything unused; prefer fewer, well-maintained plugins.
• Don’t run “abandoned” plugins (no updates in a long time, poor reviews, unknown publisher).
• Use a staging environment for major theme/plugin changes if the site is business-critical.

Accounts, passwords, MFA

• Enable MFA for all admin users (non-negotiable for business sites).
• Use least privilege: editors shouldn’t be admins.
• Disable or restrict XML-RPC if not required.
• Use a password manager; avoid shared credentials.

WAF and rate limiting

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) blocks common attack patterns and reduces brute-force login attempts. Rate limiting prevents repeated login attempts from hammering your site.

• Enable WAF rules (Cloudflare or managed host WAF).
• Rate-limit /wp-login.php and admin endpoints.
• Consider IP allowlisting for admin areas if your workflow allows it.

Backups and restore testing

• Back up both files and database.
• Store backups offsite (object storage/cloud) and keep versions.
• Test restores quarterly to prove you can recover cleanly.

Monitoring and alerting

• Uptime monitoring (alerts you within minutes of downtime).
• File integrity monitoring for unexpected changes.
• Log review for repeated login failures, new admin users, suspicious POST activity.

If you suspect compromise

• Take a backup/snapshot immediately (forensics) before “fixing”.
• Rotate passwords and invalidate sessions (WP + hosting + database).
• Scan for malicious plugins/themes and injected code.
• Restore from a known-clean backup if integrity is uncertain.