WordPress remains one of the most widely used website platforms, yet hackers still find ways to compromise it for malicious reasons. They exploit vulnerable websites and exploit them for their own malicious purposes. Can WordPress be hacked? Yes. Here’s why and how!
An indication of a compromised WordPress site includes sudden drops in organic search traffic and new users on your server.
Poor Passwords
Hackers may exploit weak passwords on WordPress websites to gain entry, leading to lost data and malicious activity on the website. To protect against this scenario, the best practice is to create strong passwords that include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols; also change it regularly so it doesn’t get reused on multiple accounts or sites.
Hackers primarily employ brute force attacks as the means for breaking into websites, using programs designed to rapidly crack passwords with brute force attacks. If your password is easily guessable, brute force attacks could gain entry to your account quickly. Unfortunately, many leaked password databases give attackers access to this type of attack software; so even if yours takes longer, hackers could gain entry to it more quickly than expected.
Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities are another effective approach, in which hackers use outdated versions of software to inject harmful code onto websites that could create serious performance issues and be extremely harmful.
Although most security risks can be addressed by choosing a secure host, some risks cannot be completely eradicated – backdoor vulnerabilities that allow hackers access to private information like usernames and passwords are still an issue that should be taken seriously and can be resolved using two-factor authentication or password security plugins.
iThemes security plugin makes two-factor authentication an efficient way of protecting websites against cyberattacks. Users who log in must provide a verification code from an application such as Authy or Google Authenticator before being permitted access. Two-factor authentication provides vital protection for both website and personal accounts alike.
Password generators can help provide complex and unique passwords to protect against brute force attacks as well as other threats to websites.
Plugins
Plugins are like apps on your smartphone – they give your website additional capabilities that make life easier for visitors and businesses. From adding simple features (like contact forms and social media icons ) to making PDF downloads simpler for visitors. Some plugins are tailored specifically for certain themes while others feature more specialized functions, like product pages or shopping carts for eCommerce stores.
Plugins work differently from themes; they usually make changes to your database without changing its appearance for visitors. Many changes might not even be visible to casual browsers but can still significantly enhance the performance and security of a website – for instance compressing, lazy-loading and resizing images may help to decrease loading times while SEO-friendly plugins could potentially boost search engine ranking results.
Developers find plugins an invaluable way to extend their own code and provide custom functionality to clients. Most plugins are written in PHP, making it possible to integrate them seamlessly with WordPress without altering core files; others are even designed to work across platforms such as Drupal or Joomla.
When selecting a plugin, ensure it is well-kept and reliable. If possible, conduct tests on an alternate version of your site prior to making any final decisions on whether it should be integrated live; this can help identify any bugs or potential issues caused by it.
Plugins not only improve your site’s speed and security; but they can also provide advanced analytics that provides a clearer picture of how people are engaging with it. A plugin may allow you to track user behavior to determine which parts of your website are most popular; additionally, they can monitor your site over time to show you its progression as it grows.
Some plugins are free, while others require an annual subscription. If you want to give a premium plugin a test run before installing it live on your site, install it first on a test version by accessing your file directory via FTP and going directly to public_html-wp-content – plugins; once it has been successfully installed on an alternate website with FTP and activating it with just a few clicks!
Themes
WordPress themes are templates that determine how your website will appear and contain information such as page layout, headers, and footers as well as widgets. A theme does not, however, include any of your site content such as text or images – therefore making a backup essential before making changes to a theme – something which could otherwise spell disaster for your site!
Changing a WordPress theme can be straightforward, but things can quickly go awry if not planned properly. To protect yourself from potential complications and ensure everything runs smoothly it’s essential that everything is backed up and you have a staging site where you can test out new themes before rolling them out on your live website. By using BlogVault you can quickly create and test staging sites while taking full backups – providing industry-standard methods of making changes without downtime issues arising later.
Once again, when selecting your theme it must be compatible with the plugins and updated regularly. An effective way of testing this is installing a plugin that shows how well a theme has been coded; this gives an indication of its customization capabilities and functionality as well as mobile responsiveness.
Make sure that the theme you’re using is a child theme, as this allows for easier customization without altering its parent theme. A good developer will typically specify this in their theme’s description.
Before changing WordPress themes, it’s essential that you back up your site first. A full backup allows for restoration in case something goes amiss during the process; additionally, copy all custom CSS snippets over to another file so as to protect any visual changes to your website from being erased by changing themes.
Admin Account
WordPress can be an invaluable tool for building websites, yet it remains susceptible to hackers. Attackers could potentially gain access using an account with administrative privileges to gain entry and modify the content or upload malicious software onto the website, even steal data or breach other systems if their efforts succeed in breaching your site. Thus, taking preventive steps against this threat is crucial.
Security plugins can provide your website with added protection from hackers; however, some security plugins can cause conflicts and lock you out of your site. To avoid this hassle, it is wise to disable or uninstall any security plugins you no longer require by adding “/deactivate/ or “/remove/” at the end of each URL address.
Having difficulty accessing your WordPress dashboard? This may be because your account has been locked, or the username/password has changed, necessitating a change in order to access your site again. In such situations, creating a new user with administrator privileges should do just the trick; to do this, access the database via phpMyAdmin and edit both wp_users and wp_usermeta tables; input these values: user_login – Select an ID higher than existing accounts); user_pass – enter password details such as MD5 so password is hashed; user_nicename – Add unique name of new user.
Now you’re logged in, using the user you just created, you can manage and access your website’s dashboard. If you are having difficulty signing in, try changing the password or using another browser – if necessary.
Jessica Shee is a Senior Tech Editor for iBoysoft. Over three years she has written articles that address topics including macOS and Windows OS operating systems, data recovery, disk management, and other tech topics such as disk partitioning. Through these informative pieces, Jessica has helped many readers overcome issues and maximize the use of their devices while exploring new technologies to assist people with technical issues. She finds immense fulfillment in exploring these new frontiers while offering guidance when necessary.
