How Hackers Get Access to Your WordPress Website

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Last updated on October 17th, 2023 at 04:34 pm

WordPress is a great platform of choice for any kind of online site! With customizable themes and thousands of plugins, you can kick start your business, blog, or any other online website passion within a matter of minutes. That being said, with many great features comes the risk of vulnerabilities and security disputes. If you’re not careful, hackers can easily compromise your WordPress site. Necessary precautionary measures need to be in place to stop such attacks.

The question arises, how hackers get access to your WordPress site? The answer varies on a wide scale, depending on many factors. However, one of the most common reasons of WordPress hacking is compromised entry gate.

Save yourself from this nightmare! Get your pen and paper and take notes! These important points that will give you a deep insight on how hackers get access to your WordPress website.

  1. Insecure Theme 

Hackers know your site is vulnerable! The reason a site is hacked is more obvious than you think. Hackers follow the path of least resistance by following footprints leading to an insecure theme. This is a cookie cutter template for hacking. Over 29% of the nearly 75 million active WordPress users have a vulnerable theme installed.

  1. Vulnerable Hosting Platform 

Over 41% of hackers make their first hacking attempt on sites with compromised hosting plans. This shows the prominence of installing a highly tenable and trusted hosting for your site. Hosting is what keeps your site on the World Wide Web and its conceded status can push your site into a deep trouble.

 

  1. General Admin and Login Page

One of the most common pathways for hackers to attack your site is the most straightforward – login! A majority of the WordPress logins can be accessed at either /wp-admin.php or /wp-admin. This serves as a ‘welcome doormat’ for the hackers. Once a hacker has landed on your doorstep, they will start guessing the username and password. The most general username of WordPress sites are ‘admin.’ If that’s the case, then all there is left for the hackers to do is guess the password. They have a sophisticated tool that randomly guesses the password on their behalf. This is much faster and effective than manually guessing the password. There is a high probability that the software will guess your password. Now hackers can enter into your site through the front door.

  1. Plugin Risks

Sure, plugins offer a great deal for the site. They enhance the features and usability of any site and have the power of truly transforming any platform. However, they do come from a third-party source. This means that a different party that’s not affiliated with WordPress developers does the plugin’s coding. The question of authenticity and trust arises here. Mainstream WordPress users don’t pay close attention to the plugin’s developer. Once a plugin is installed from an unreliable source, the floodgates for hackers are now opened! Over 97% of WordPress vulnerabilities are from plugins and themes.

  1. Open Source Software Updates

You can save a lot of time and money by simply downloading the plugin or theme that you need. At the same time, you’re still at the mercy of plugin developers who update their plugins regularly, leaving your website outdated. The open source nature of WordPress is risky! Automatic update downloads of the plugins can put site at risk. Hackers can make minor code changes that are difficult to detect, even by an experienced backend developer. We advise you to check the updates before installation.

  1. Brute Force Attacks

 A typical brute force attack is a password guessing game. Here the attackers have to accurately guess the username and the password. Even though there are many security technologies that can prevent such attacks, still 16.1% of the hacking attempts are brute force. Install a two-factor authentication approach that will send a code on your cellphone for login.

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Best WordPress Security Solutions

There are thousands of WordPress security plugins that provide ample security from hacking attempts. Not all are as effective as others. Some have proven their worth to millions of WordPress users. Here are our top 3 WordPress security plugins that will revolutionize your site’s security!

This is a WordPress security plugin that offers great protection to any website. It is powered with Threat Defense Feed and Firewall that stops any hacking attempt. It also alerts the website admin about any potential hacking attempt on your site with additional tools.

Image Source: Elegant Themes

 

Sucuri is a website security plugin that offers many features to all WordPress users. It uses a set of security features that are designed to monitor and scan your website for many kinds of security threats. With firewall, security notifications, blacklist monitoring, and other features, you can truly enjoy a safe haven for your site.

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Image Source: Sucuri

 

WPMUDev Premium comes with stacks of plugins and two of our favourites for security have to be their Security Defender and Backups Snapshot plugins which puts your site’s security on steroids. Security Scans, Vulnerability Reports, Security Suggestions, Regular cloud backups and IP Lockouts are a few of the security features added by these.

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Image Source: WPMUDev

WordPress security is a battle that is fought on all fronts. From taking self-precautionary measures to managing your plugins, one has to invest in these areas.

One of our best recommendations for keeping your site safe is monthly maintenance. Doing monthly backups of your website and updating all themes, plugins and WordPress core are a great start to keeping up with security.

Let us help keep you safe and secure. Contact us for monthly maintenance and support, or if you’ve already been hacked, don’t panic, we offer a website malware removal and hack fix service too!

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