WordPress site is hacked? You may hear all the time that WordPress is vulnerable and unreliable when it comes to security. The fact of the matter is that it is completely false. WordPress at its very core is a very strong, robust and secure platform.
What makes WordPress insecure is the third party plugins and themes that we use on our website to enhance its functionality. Many of these third-party software applications that we put into our WordPress site can create vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain access to our website files and database tables.
This access is very dangerous because once a hacker has control they can really wreak havoc on our website.
There are three main reasons why a WordPress site is hacked. We are going to lay out the three main things to look for when it comes to the safety and security of your WordPress site. These three things that we are going to outline below are the main areas that can cause massive vulnerabilities on your WordPress site.
Not paying attention to these three things can really leave you open for some harmful attacks.
The overall goal of an article is to put a large focus on WordPress security. You must be proactive in your WordPress security approach and doing so well make sure that you keep your site safe and secure.
OK so let us get into it. These are the three biggest reasons why your WordPress site is Hacked.
Hosting Environment can cause WordPress site is Hacked
Your hosting environment and the decision you make for the company to host your website online is such a massive part of overall WordPress website security. This is first on our list of the three reasons why a WordPress website can get hacked because it is the most important.
Your hosting environment is the foundation of your website. It is so important at this foundation is strong. Think about for a moment a house. What is the most important part in the structure of a house? The foundation right!
Same thing goes for your website your hosting environment needs to be the strongest part of your website. Doing this and putting a focus on this will ensure that the foundation is strong and will limit you from harmful attacks so you never have to deal with a WordPress site is Hacked situation.
No not all hosting companies are built equally and sufficient enough to support the hosting environment that a WordPress needs to thrive. There are certain requirements needed in order for WordPress to function properly and function optimally.
Please take a look at the URL below for the list of these requirements and when you are shopping for a hosting company make sure that you are asking them if they can provide these requirements below
https://wordpress.org/about/requirements
Another big area of focus when it comes to your hosting environment is if you are on a shared, a semi dedicated or a dedicated server platform. What this basically means is are you sharing server space with a bunch of websites, with a few websites or do you have it all to yourself.
Obviously the safest option is to be dedicated. In a shared or semi dedicated server environment your website is only as safe as the weakest site on the server. What this means is that if another website on the server gets infected your website could potentially be harmed by that infection.
Selecting the right hosting company for your WordPress site is always a big debate and you can get several different answers depending on who you ask. We would like to do is provide you with a detailed article on the comparison between top WordPress hosts when you are considering making a decision where to host your WordPress site. Please see the article below to guide you along this decision.
https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/best-wordpress-hosting
Software Updates can cause WordPress site is Hacked
Let’s spend some time talking about software updates. So what are software updates? I assure you that you know what software updates are extremely well. Just think about when you log into the admin area of your WordPress website and underneath the updates heading you see a little bubble with a number in it.
These are pending updates on your website for software that you are either actively using or software you have installed and is deactivated. These updates are so important to complete.
You really need to think about these update warnings like the control panel in your car. Now if you got into your car and you turned it on and you saw the engine light this would probably cause you concern right? The reason that this with alarm you is because this is your car’s internal systems telling you that there is something wrong with the engine.
WordPress update notifications is an internal system telling you that you need to update your software. These updates that become available can contain security measures that help keep your site safer. If you are not actively updating your installed plugins and your active theme you are simply opening your site up for attacks.
Not to mention that many of these updates actually improve the functionality of the software that you are using on your site or they are keeping up with the web standards online to make sure that everything functions properly. Updates are so important!!!
Now while we are here ranting about completing your updates another thing that you need to take notice to when it comes to software updates is that you need to remove any software that you are not using. For example if you have 40 plugins installed on your site but you are only using eight of them delete the other 32. There is no reason to store software on your website server and continue to update it if you are not using it at all.
This goes for themes as well. There should never be more than two themes installed on any website. In most cases there will only be one active theme but in a child and parent theme environment there will be two themes installed. We have seen so many sites over the years that have 20, 30, 40 or 50+ themes installed on their site.
This is extremely dangerous and a good point of infiltration that hackers can use to get into your website files and your database. Make sure that the only themes that are installed on your site are the ones that you are using. This should never ever ever ever be more than two themes.
Abandonware can cause WordPress site is Hacked
What in the world is a Abandonware? Is this term completely new to you? Well after this you need to take this term very seriously because this is a very dangerous thing when it comes to keeping your website safe and limit the attacks that could potentially happen.
Abandonware is software that is ignored by its owner and there is no more support available for it. This is an extremely common occurrence when it comes to WordPress plugins and themes. They will be developed and be supported but many of them will fall off on development and support.
This means as WordPress core itself changes and the web changes these plugins and themes are not keeping up with those changes and become vulnerable. Abandon where is a very dangerous thing to have on your website. WordPress.org has done a great job in recent years of letting users know when the last time a plugin was updated. They will also displayed the fact that when a plugin or theme has not been tested in the most recent releases a WordPress core.
There is another way that you can scan your entire website and all the software it is using to see if any of that software is Abandonware. To do this you will use the plugin called WordFence. This is a free plugin and you can download it and see the full information on it at the link below.
This will allow you to scan your entire site and it will spit out a list of any plugins or themes that you are using that is considered to be Abandonware.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence
Conclusion on what can cause WordPress site is Hacked
We really hope this is useful for you in identifying the three biggest reasons why your WordPress site is hacked. If you take a proactive approach an examine your own site based on the three reasons here you are already ahead of the game when it comes to most WordPress users out there today. If you have any questions about anything in this article please comment below and we will reply immediately.