If your home is burglarized, items that took days, months, or years’ worth of hard work to attain are taken from you in a matter of minutes. When you are hacked, your website that has taken time to set up and build is vandalized with messages and pages that are not your own. Some hackers live to extract private or secure information from strangers with vulnerable computers. Not only can hackers reverse all of the hard work that went into building your website, but they also open the door for future attacks, which can make any website owner feel uneasy.
How WordPress Sites Get Hacked
Hackers are obviously very good at what they do. Just when you think you’re safe, they pull the rug right from under your feet. However, certain site weaknesses can make it much easier for a hacker to pick your website over another. It’s in your best interest to beef up your website security and avoid these common security mistakes.
Weak Username/Password
Yes, memorizing a billion password and username combinations can be a pain. But what’s even more painful is waking up to realize that your website is compromised with ugly hacker graffiti. With so many websites requiring username/password combos, it’s no wonder so many people use the same password or slight variations of the same password for multiple sites. However, there’s a reason for the complex login requirements. A weak username and password make it that much easier for a hacker to do his or her bidding. What’s the point of getting a security system installed in your house if you leave the front door unlocked? If the front door of your website is weak, it won’t be long before the whole site comes crumbling down.
Bugs in Themes and Plugins
There are literally hundreds of themes and plugins available for your WordPress site. However, not all of them are officiated through WordPress. It’s always a good idea to read about the plugins you’re installing just to make sure you’re getting something that’s not going to compromise your security. Hackers love finding vulnerable plugins to wreak havoc with. Working with a digital agency like Infront can help, we’re always vetting plugins and can help keep your site secure.
Avoiding the Updates
Procrastination fever hits hard when WordPress, your phone, your computer, and plenty of other devices are pressuring you to update 24/7. It’s easy to hit “decline” or “later” when you just don’t seem to have the time to sit through the update process. In the case of website security, however, updating is a must. Some people hold off on the updates because their plugins aren’t up to par with the core update yet. If you rely on those plugins to keep your website polished, doing a system update would throw off everything else. Keep in mind that the most reliable plugins and themes are usually ready with a new update within hours of the core update. This is one of the cases where it’s important to have a team of professionals on your side. We can do a complete back up of the site before updating so we can roll back if there are any issues.
Steps to Take If You’ve Been Hacked
As with any emergency, “Don’t panic!” If you’re in panic mode, you’ll be too busy worrying to even attempt to reverse the damage. Second, call our professional team at Infront to help, we have a lot of experience with these types of fixes.
Next, change all of your passwords. Though you might have to put in the extra work to memorize an entirely new set of passwords and share them with your colleagues, this will provide extra defense for those hackers who are ready to strike again. If they got away with hacking your site once, chances are they’ll try it again.
Getting Professional Help When Your Website Is Hacked
If your WordPress site has been hacked, we can help. Infront can get your site back up to running speed with improved security measures. Hacking isn’t something that website owners should shrug off. A website is another face of your business and should be protected. Online hackers are not looking out for you; Infront Webworks is.
