We were approached by an online gifting service that had suffered a security breach exposing vulnerabilities in its WordPress setup. Our team responded swiftly restoring the platform, reinforcing its defences, and implementing a comprehensive suite of security measures to protect its customers and their data.
Key Security Measures Implemented
- Applied Critical Security Patches
Updated the WordPress core, themes, and all plugins to their latest versions to eliminate known vulnerabilities. - Advanced Threat Protection
Deployed Wordfence for continuous malware scanning, firewall protection, login attempt tracking, and intrusion detection. - Enhanced Firewall and Login Security
Integrated All In One WP Security & Firewall to harden login pages, enforce strong passwords, restrict brute-force attempts, secure file permissions, and strengthen overall firewall rules. - Complete Code Cleanup and Recovery
Removed all malicious code and backdoors, then restored from clean backups to ensure a safe operating environment. - Credential and Access Reinforcement
Reset and strengthened all admin, database, FTP/SFTP, and hosting panel credentials, and enabled two-factor authentication (2FA) for administrative accounts. - Proactive Monitoring and Auditing
Established real-time logging of file changes and login attempts, alongside scheduled security scans to monitor and address any future risks.
Ongoing Security Strategy
We have launched a full audit of all plugins and themes, removing unused or outdated components and replacing any vulnerable ones. Automated, offsite backups are now in place to ensure rapid recovery in the unlikely event of future incidents. In addition, we are reviewing server security settings, file permissions, and access points (such as XML-RPC and REST API) to keep them fully secure.
