21 Nov 2023
With over 1 trillion websites (1,000,000,000,000!!), the internet is indeed a massive market for both website visitors and hackers. Cybercriminals see the potential to infect even a small percentage of websites with their own advertisements, which could yield significant results. WordPress, Joomla, and Magento, being popular content management systems, are particularly attractive targets for hackers, given that one-third of all websites are built on these platforms.
Sucuri’s report indicates a significant increase in cybercrime in recent years. However, the success of hackers in mass hacking websites largely depends on how websites are managed and secured.
While WordPress receives frequent updates and security enhancements from its developers, plugins remain a weak link in the security chain. Plugins with Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities can leave websites exposed to injections and attacks. Popular plugins like Revslider, Gravityforms, and Timthumb, while powerful, are sometimes not updated frequently enough by users, making them susceptible to exploitation.
The most common issues seen in hacked websites include backdoors, malware distribution, SEO spam, unauthorized email sending, and website defacement. These problems can seriously harm a website’s reputation and compromise its functionality.
To defend against hackers, it’s not enough to rely solely on timely updates. The use of an effective antivirus plugin for WordPress that closes over 100 known vulnerabilities and intercepts hacker methods becomes crucial to prevent the website from becoming an easy target.
For further protection and more tips on securing your WordPress website, you can explore the article ‘Serieus, je moet je WordPress website nu echt beveiligen’ (in Dutch).
