How Do Your Site From Hackers?
Imagine all the sleepless nights of you coding your website when boom, all of your content is either gone or altered to the point of no return. Then you get kicked out of administrative access to rollback any changes, your confidential information from your contact info and even your credit card account is now compromised. Oh, and your email is now bloated with spam.
Hackers are some of the worst scum on this planet, and they're not stopping. Back in 2012, over 117,000 WordPress websites were hacked – that's a huge number however you wanna look at it and there is no absolute guarantee that you might not be the next victim. If you want your WordPress site to be safe from hackers, hiring experts in WordPress web design can help make your site do just that.
Why do so many WordPress sites get hacked? Could it be the case that hackers are extremely knowledgeable and determined to just ruin site developers as Michael Caine as Alfred in Nolan's film The Dark Knight said; “Some men just wanna see the world burn”? Or could it also be that you set up your website in a manner that makes it more vulnerable to hackers?
How Can Hackers Exploit Your Site?
Hackers are getting smarter each day. Though there are efforts on the part of designers and developers to keep your site secured, they seem to always find a weak area that allows them to attack and exploit your contents. To have a better way of keeping your WordPress website secured, it might be necessary to think like a hacker, too. Here are the soft spots they’re looking for, so make sure that you’ve got these covered.
- Vulnerable host providers – You can sort of get away with host providers that offer your affordable plans but if you're really serious about beefing up your security, you have fewer chances of being hacked if you coordinate with higher quality and reputable host provider
- Weak Security i.e passwords – Your hometown or alma mater plus a couple of numbers won't exactly cut it. That doesn't mean your website is now a big red flag for hackers but if you really wanna confuse the heck out of any hacker, making a stronger password by adding special characters and nonsensical words can really create an extra layer of security for your website.
- Exploitable Themes – Popular stock WordPress themes are more vulnerable to attacks simply because a lot of people use them, and you can bet any one of them is finding a way in any one of their chosen themes. If they’re skilled and determined enough, they’ll eventually create backdoor access to anyone who unluckily uses those exploitable themes. If you have your own theme, make sure it’s strongly coded which makes it less vulnerable to tampering.
- Vulnerable Plugins – Same with popular themes, the more users certain plugins have, the more likely they are to exploit as hackers become more skilled in creating backdoor access to popular plugins. Before you download a plugin, make sure to check for any vulnerabilities or known security issues. Just like popular themes again, running updates on plugins is another sure way of improving security.
Importance of Site Security
What I just listed above is unfortunately just one of the many examples hackers utilize to exploit your WordPress site. Because WordPress is so popular, you cannot avoid the prospects of being hacked even if you think your site does not have much to offer. That’s actually a risky mentality to have.
Granted, hackers are more drawn to popular sites but even neophyte sites are equally vulnerable. Hackers utilize automated methods i.e bots to hack websites more efficiently, and if one day you happen to upload any sensitive personal information, then it's bingo for the hacker.
In essence, site security should be a top priority for all site creators.
