The internet is anonymous, and as a customer told me last week: ”The internet is full of weirdos and malware.”
Types of individuals we deal with:
Regarding hacks and malware, we encounter a wide range of individuals, but of course, we never get to know the person behind it since every “weirdo” has the intelligence to hide behind a proxy.
Professional Programmers
An example of brilliant programming work:
Today, we came across JPEG images in the uploads folder.
Not strange, right?
Until you open the file with a PHP editor and find code that opens up your WordPress website to hackers.
The hackers go beyond this trick and provide a good piece of programming work to make these files executable.
The Script Kiddies
An internet term used to refer to individuals who simply execute a script to “hack your website.”
This is a large group, mainly consisting of young people. They watch some YouTube videos and follow the steps taken by seasoned hackers to hack a website.
Unfortunately, with the average WordPress website lacking additional security, they still have a chance of success.
The Weirdos
There’s a group of hackers seeking “fame”. It doesn’t matter which website they breach, as long as their name or advertisement appears on the site.
In some cases, you might end up with an entirely new homepage with a fictional alias and an image displaying their logo clearly. Most of the time, however, your website unknowingly promotes expensive products that you have nothing to do with. Sometimes legally, sometimes illegally.
Conclusion
Individuals from all over the world target WordPress users, ranging from brilliant people doing it for “big money” to those who only have a computer and deep debts and want/need to earn something because they don’t receive benefits in most countries, and their entire family is suffering.
Each person has their motive for engaging in these illegal activities, and it is our responsibility to ensure they can’t access your WordPress!
Our website is full of articles and tips on how to prevent weirdos and malware. Feel free to read more!