3. Step-by-Step Implementation & Remediation Guide

Building and securing an enterprise-grade attorney website requires concrete, reproducible configuration steps across the filesystem, web server, and database layers. The following administrative procedures outline how to optimize and secure a legal WordPress environment.

Step 3.1: Hardening the WordPress Filesystem and wp-config.php

Restrict file editing permissions and disable unneeded system vectors inside the wp-config.php file. Execute the following administrative changes via secure shell (SSH):

# Set strict file and directory permissions
find /var/www/html/lawfirm -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
find /var/www/html/lawfirm -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/lawfirm

# Secure wp-config.php permissions
chmod 400 /var/www/html/lawfirm/wp-config.php

Add the following directives to wp-config.php to disable file modifications, enforce SSL administration, and restrict execution contexts:

# Insert within wp-config.php before 'That\'s all, stop editing!'
define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true );
define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true );
define( 'FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true );
define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', 'minor' );
define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 300 );
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5 );

Step 3.2: Implementing Nginx Security Directives

Configure the Nginx server block to block unauthorized access to sensitive files and mitigate brute-force attacks against administrative endpoints:

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/lawfirm.conf
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name lawfirmdomain.com www.lawfirmdomain.com;
    root /var/www/html/lawfirm;
    index index.php index.html;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/lawfirmdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/lawfirmdomain.com/privkey.pem;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;

    # Deny access to sensitive files
    location ~* /wp-config\.php {
        deny all;
    }

    location ~* /\.(htaccess|htpasswd|git|svn) {
        deny all;
    }

    # Restrict access to XML-RPC to prevent DDoS and brute-force
    location = /xmlrpc.php {
        deny all;
    }

    # FastCGI cache configuration for performance
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }
}

Step 3.3: Configuring Secure Intake Forms with WP-CLI

Deploy and configure robust input sanitization for client intake forms using WP-CLI to automate module management:

# Install and activate a secure form management plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin install wp-forms-lite --activate --path=/var/www/html/lawfirm

# Verify plugin installation status
wp plugin status wp-forms-lite --path=/var/www/html/lawfirm