Last updated - October 30, 2023
WordPress is an open-source platform which is available for free. The current generation of blogs and business people consider it one of the best solution for blogging and raising brand awareness. Since it has gained such huge popularity in recent years, it has managed to beat Drupal and Blogger in these areas. However, this popularity comes with a whole host of unpredictable issues. The main problem here is the amount of vulnerabilities that WordPress now has. The templates and the plugins are designed with MySQL and PHP which are easy to hack and take control of. This way, a ton of valuable content and hard work can be ruined.
Since so many websites are on WordPress now, it is very important that you learn about all of the vulnerabilities that come with it.
It will get fixed but until it does, you have to be prepared and cautious.
Here are some of those vulnerabilities:
Vulnerability with security bypass
WordPress is constantly updating the plugins available to make the websites more interactive and fun for the users. But some of the plugins can be full of security issues that hackers can exploit to enter your website and steal the data. In some cases, hackers can modify the security details like the username and the password and hold it for ransom or use your data. The main cause of these are new plugins. Update your plugins regularly and be very selective about what you download, for your own sake. To keep your website protected, use Hide My WordPress Ghost plugin that can change the names of the plugins and themes.
Regularly check the information that can be found online to discover which plugins can be easily infected or hacked. Make sure that your plugins are updated and that you only keep those you use on a daily basis. You can also perform a monthly plugin and theme audit and remove those which haven’t been used for more than 30 days. It can be very easy to fall into the trap of downloading dozens of themes to test them out or downloading dozens of plugins that you feel will improve your website, but it’s important to remain safe.
These plugins and themes often get downloaded, tested out for a while and then deactivated while still remaining in your files. Since they are made with code that’s easy to hack, you are making yourself open to hackers. This is why you need to delete the plugins and themes as you stop using them. Not only will this increase your security on your WordPress website but it will also increase your website loading speed which is one of the best things if you want to decrease your bounce rates and improve your SEO.
SQL injection and URL hacking
“WordPress is well-known as the platform where all of the side scripts are done in PHP. This is what makes WordPress more exposed to the attacks because PHP can essentially be weak to attacks,” says Tarah West, tech writer executive at 1Day2write and Next Coursework.
The hackers can disturb your overall functionality and create poor parameters that will not require your authorization. They can ruin your website. The sensitive data is at the most risk.
The best solution is to install host installations on the Apache web server. This should be able to protect you from attacks. You can also use an SQL injection scanner to identify attempted incursions and give you a way to take action to prevent them and patch any vulnerabilities in your infrastructure.
The worst thing that can happen to any website is to get your client’s data exposed to hackers. This is why you need to take extra care with WordPress. Even though it’s an amazing platform, it’s made in PHP as well as all of its plugins and themes and you need to be very careful not to get a hacker to ruin your website and reputation. PHP is very vulnerable to attacks.
Gaining access to sensitive files
WordPress is a platform that has several sensitive files that are created upon installation. If a hacker gains access to these files, they can create a serious security issue for your website. Hosts also can be to blame because they sometimes allow other parties to see these hidden directories and this helps malicious hackers to modify and change these files, thus endangering your security.
You should learn which files contain sensitive data and then protect them in a stronger way. And, secure them so that only the admins can see and change them. You should restrict all access to these files and directories so that hackers can’t access these files.
Make sure that these files are hard to find so that no one can get through to them.
Admin user account
Some hackers can gain access to the system of WordPress websites. The admin accounts are vulnerable to these attacks since hackers are able to create and generate unique passwords for these accounts so that they can have an unlimited access to the website and the files on the website. The script lets them make multiple login attempts so that they can enter after a while when their system guesses the password.
Most hackers know that it’s very easy to gain access to the admin account. For them, this is the safest bet for hacking. However, if you erase your admin account, and come up with a generic name for your user account with admin privileges, you can have a bit more security. Hackers would then have to try with every account on your website which is a lot harder and more time-consuming for them and this should prevent attacks.
They will be looking for an admin account with a regular admin name because people so rarely change it and it always stays easy to find. But when you switch and change the information, their process becomes much more complicated and they need more time which ultimately, often doesn’t pay off so they give up.
Using a default prefix
“WordPress database has a huge amount of tables named wp_(some file name). This makes easy for hackers to predict the details and gain access to the database. The best thing you can do is to change this prefix into something unique and hard to guess. Do this right after installation to keep your security under control.
Protecting your website isn’t always easy. Especially so on WordPress where it’s exposed to numerous vulnerabilities. Protect your website with some of these great solutions and stop hackers from harming your website,” says Danny Bell, WP manager at Brit Student and Writemyx.
