Preventive protection
WordPress security hardening
WordPress powers almost half the web: that makes it the favourite target of automated attacks, which scan the network day and night hunting for vulnerable plugins and weak passwords. You don't need to be a famous site to get attacked — you just need to be reachable.
Fixotron's security service drastically reduces your site's attack surface: audit, hardening and continuous monitoring, before someone finds the door left open.
Security audit: know where you're exposed
It starts with a snapshot of the current state. The audit examines core, plugin and theme versions against known vulnerabilities, users and privileges (how many admins? password policy?), hosting and PHP configuration, certificates, file permissions, exposure of sensitive information, and the presence of already-active malware.
The result is a readable report: what's fine, what's risky, what's urgent. With clear priorities and a quote for fixing what needs fixing.
Hardening: what we lock down
Hardening is the set of interventions that turn your site into a hard target:
- Web application firewall (WAF) against known attacks and malicious bots
- Login protection: attempt limiting, two-factor authentication
- Correct file and folder permissions, blocking execution where it isn't needed
- Disabling XML-RPC, file editors and other unnecessary attack surfaces
- Regenerated security keys, non-standard database prefixes
- Encrypted automatic backups stored off-server
- Removal of unused plugins and themes (every extension is a potential door)
Continuous monitoring
Security is not a one-time job: new vulnerabilities are discovered every week. Continuous monitoring keeps watch over file integrity, anomalous login attempts, the site appearing on blacklists, and new vulnerabilities affecting your plugins — so we intervene before they become a problem.
Monitoring is included in our WordPress maintenance plans, which complete the picture by keeping up to date what the hardening protects.
Prevention or cleanup? The difference
This page is about preventive protection: locking down a healthy site. If your site has already been compromised — replaced content, strange redirects, Google warnings — you first need a full cleanup: a different, urgent, forensic job. In that case, head to the hacked WordPress site repair page: after the cleanup, hardening is the natural next step.
The ideal sequence is exactly that: site cleaned, then locked down, then maintained. Those who follow it almost never come back to the workshop for an emergency.
Frequently asked questions
My site is small: why would anyone attack it?
Attacks are automated and hit any reachable site: a compromised WordPress is valuable as a server for spam, phishing or fraudulent SEO, regardless of how well known it is.
Isn't a free security plugin enough?
A good plugin is part of the solution, but installing it without configuring it gives a false sense of security: real protection comes from hardening, updates, backups and monitoring working together.
Can hardening break or slow down the site?
Not when done properly: every restriction is tested on your specific site. The performance impact is zero or negligible — the site often gets faster, thanks to malicious bots being blocked.
How often should the security audit be repeated?
We recommend a full audit once a year, or after major changes (critical new plugins, hosting change, new integrations). With continuous monitoring active, deviations are detected immediately anyway.
Tell us about your site
Free diagnosis and a clear quote within 48 hours. No commitment.
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