Website hacking is very common and a widespread problem in 2024. It is frustrating to find out that your WordPress website has been hacked. In this detailed article, you will know more about the most common reasons why hackers hack wordpress website and how to prevent them, you can simply avoid these mistakes and protect your site.Virtually any website can be a target of a hack. From little known blogs to robust eCommerce sites, cyber-vandals are always looking for easy prey. To top it all off, private information might not be the only thing that hackers are looking for. In most instances, your business is just another victim of cyber-vandals. However, at WP HACKED HELP, we take pride in being a proactive wordpress security solutions for small to medium business that are constantly connected to the web.
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You can get more detailed info in this article on WordPress hacked and How to secure your site in 2024
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These are the most common points of entry into WordPress websites:
Compromised account details is a crucial concern that may result in an easy way to hack WordPress websites. The most common mistake is to set a password that is weak and simple to guess or deduce by trying variations of passwords. It is essential to create a password that is hard to figure out and also ensure not to use the same password for different websites. In addition, make use of security tools like two-factor authentication in WordPress.
Also Read – How To Change Your WordPress Username? – 3 Easy Ways
An outdated software might not be equipped with a certain patches that may make it vulnerable to the hacks. Ensure that your web server software, CMS, plugins and other crucial softwares related to the website are all set for the automatic updation. If that option is unavailable, make it certain to manually update these softwares.
PRO TIP: Keep your WordPress Updated To Latest Version – See WordPress Releases
Also Read – WordPress Website Maintenance Tasks & Checklist
It is essential that the WordPress themes and the plugins of the website are patched. Outdated themes, plugins, and WordPress version are the number one way hackers gain access to your site (besides brute force hacks of your login). Even deactivated themes and plugins can leave your system vulnerable. At the same time, ensure to delete the themes or plugins that are additional and no longer used for the site. Don’t disable these themes or plugins, rather, completely remove their files from your server. Also, carefully check for the free available version of paid plugins and themes before integrating them. The free versions are easy to be infected with malicious code.
Also Read – How to Scan & Detect Malware in WordPress Themes (Plugins Included)
WordPress Theme Security – Useful Links:
Reputable sources for WP Themes
Hackers more commonly use deceitful emails and web pages to mislead the user to gain confidential information. Phishing attacks more often makes one believe that they are dealing with a genuine webmaster, it involves tricking the user to steal confidential information , passwords, etc, into thinking you are a confidential site.. It is highly recommended that a user refrains from sharing personal information with someone they aren’t familiar with. But you can protect yourself from phishing schemes by following these tips to prevent phishing attacks.
Certain security policies like permitting users to create weak passwords, easily giving away access to the admin and not enabling HTTPS on your site, can cause negative consequences. Google recommends to implement a strict security policy in order to protect the website. It advices to properly manage the user access and privileges, the logs are to be accurately analyzed and encrypted data is to be used.
Also Read – WordPress Vulnerabilities & How To Fix Them [AIO Guide]
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You website data is referred to as leaked when it is mishandled or improperly uploaded. Data leaks can result in hacking. Attackers may utilize the technique, Google dorking, in search engines to detect compromised data. Ensure that employees have an access only to the required data and also make use of URL removal tool to ensure Google doesn’t index sensitive URLs in search results.
Also Read – Disable Directory Browsing in WordPress
Admin area is one of the most vulnerable area of wordpress and is most suseptible to hacking attempts. Leaving it unprotected is like leaving doors open for hackers. To protect it you can add layers of authentication to admin directory. You can also change WordPress admin username and setup two factor authentication as it adds an extra security layer, and anyone trying to access WordPress admin will have to provide an extra password.
Also read – How To Delete Invisible/Hidden Admin User In WordPress?
One of the practical ways of offering security to your website is to set correct WordPress file permissions. File permissions set who has the authority to read, write, and execute the files that make up your website. Set them incorrectly and you end up leaving easy access to the important data/files of your website and the security can be easily jeopardized. In the worst-case scenario, a hacker may also add spam or malware.
FTP accounts are used to upload files to your web server using an FTP client. Most hosting providers support FTP connections using different protocols. You can connect using plain FTP, SFTP, or SSH. Instead of using FTP, you should always use SFTP or SSH.
When you connect to your site using plain FTP, your password is sent to the server unencrypted. It can be spied upon and easily stolen.
Most FTP clients can connect to your website on SFTP as well as SSH. You just need to change the protocol to ‘SFTP – SSH’ when connecting to your website.
WordPress stores your database information in the wp-config.php file. Without this information your WordPress website will not work, and you will get the ‘error establishing database connection error. Apart from database information, wp-config.php file also contains several other high-level settings. Since this file contains a lot of sensitive information,which makes it an important target for hackers.
Add an extra layer of protection by denying access to wp-config file using .htaccess. Simply add this little code to your .htaccess file.
| 1 2 3 4 | <files wp-config.php>order allow,denydeny from all</files> |
Also read – WordPress .htaccess hack Cleanup & tips for extra security
Implementing certain security tips can help secure your website from any type of hacks. Below listed are few of the points that you must consider to prevent website hacking:
Follow our WordPress security checklist to safeguard your WordPress website with against various kind of hacks such as gibberish keyword hack, Japanese seo spam, WordPress XSS Attack, Pharma Hack & many more. However, it is preferable that you implement these security tips to secure wordpress site firstly.
Additional Useful Resources: