At least 42% of company websites are built on WordPress, which means it covers almost half of the total websites on the internet. WordPress is not the only available Content Management System used, but this is one of the most dominant.
Popularity is not the sole reason why users prefer WordPress in creating their websites. Users are also after WordPress’ flexible features since it allows website creation without the need for codes. With its simple features and available themes, you can create a website easily.
Other than that, users also have control over the themes, plug-ins, and publishing tools. WordPress has available plug-ins that can extend the existing functions of websites. Plug-ins are software that adds new functionalities, making websites even more powerful.
Hackers Targeting Websites
As the threat of cyberattacks becomes one of the major concerns nowadays, you need to secure your website with ISP proxies. The ISP proxy serves as a firewall that inhibits you from the danger of unsecured data privacy. This also serves as an additional layer of security for your website considering its possible vulnerabilities.
These vulnerabilities include security breaches that can cause a leak of important data. With its popularity, some malicious hackers likely want to benefit from these.
The Clark School study found out that every 39 seconds, on average, hackers attack computers with internet access. They exploit possible weak points that they could get from the website. When this happens, hackers gain access to users’ sensitive information, which will result in cyberattacks.
At least 1,506 data breaches were recorded in 2019 and 1,001 in 2020 in the United States alone. Data breaching became one of the major concerns in the online world. To recall, Yahoo’s incident was the largest data breach recorded in late 2016. In that attack, hackers had stolen at least 1 billion accounts.
So, Why Do Some Hackers Hack Websites?
One of the reasons why hackers penetrate websites is to find flaws in its system. Once hackers gain entry into your website, they will get access to sensitive and important information. When hackers get access, they will have the ability to direct your visitors to other malicious websites or, worse, use your information for their benefit.
Further, hacking websites is also one of their ways to spread malware. Malware has the ability to disrupt your entire system. This affects your daily operations and steals information from you and your users. Aside from that, hacking could also be a dirty tactic from your competitor to pull you down from the limelight.
Note that hackers could be white, gray, and black hat hackers. ‘White hat’ hackers are those who use websites as their mode of learning and are mostly hired to do penetration testing. They function with permission.
Meanwhile, ‘gray hat’ hackers do not have malicious intentions to penetrate the system. They mostly would want to exploit vulnerabilities of the website and inform the owner of better security measures. Lastly, ‘black hat’ hackers are those mostly tagged negatively. They are those believed to be taking information from the public.
Some hackers are exploring website security holes for different purposes. Getting to know how hackers operate on websites will help you build your security measures in advance.
But why WordPress Websites?
1. WordPress is a Popular CMS
WordPress has over 28 million websites on the entire internet. This is at least 42.21% among CMS technologies. It allows websites to take advantage of its features by allowing them to monetize their websites.
With its various free themes and plugins, you can create your website easily. Also, WordPress provides tutorials that beginners can use as a guide for website creation.
CMS like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and others are systems wherein non-techies learn to create a functional website without engaging with coding.
To note, all websites on the internet can be victims of hacking.
2. Some Use Weak Password
Your password is your first line of defense against threats. That is why password security must also be a priority. If you use the same password, this makes it ‘weak’ and vulnerable to hackers. Remember, vulnerability for hackers is an opportunity.
So, to keep your information secure, you use a unique password for your accounts. It should be composed of at least eight characters. These characters must comprise both lower and upper cases, numbers, and symbols.
It is crucial to maintain strong and unique passwords for all your accounts to avoid getting hacked.
Aside from this, users can also use two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication is a security system that requires two different identification from users. This is to make sure that anyone has no easy access to your account and sensitive information. This adds a second layer of security for you as well.
3. Usage of Outdated WordPress Features
Not keeping your site updated is one of the top reasons why WordPress websites are hacked. However, updating your software could also affect your system performance since some request time to load and be fully functional. Regardless, it is best to know this for your WordPress website security.
Outdated WordPress features can cause you security issues. If you ignore notifications to update your WordPress features, you are also missing the possible chances of benefitting its theme, plugin, and core updates. Once the users use outdated WordPress core, plugins, and themes, they create vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit.
Conclusion
WordPress is a user-friendly CMS that beginners use to create their websites. It follows easy-to-understand guidelines too. As mentioned earlier, users no longer need codes for their website creation.
With its popularity, it becomes a target for attacks. By applying basic security measures, you can help mitigate these negative impacts.
To counter the said problems, you may enforce a strong password policy and backup your WordPress website. Knowing how websites work can add to your security measures.
Hacked WordPress websites will indeed affect your website operations. All websites on the internet are prone to hacking as they are visible online. That is why website owners must be knowledgeable enough to protect their online data.
