In This Blog We will discuss how to know if your WordPress website is hacked? As all hack jobs are different, some can be easily identified while others make such subtle changes that identification happens after it is too late. So don’t worry you can hire a WordPress expert at different packages. Read this complete blog at https://www.cgcolors.com/blog/how-to-know-if-your-wordpress-website-is-hacked/
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WordPress provides a simple way to create and launch a
website/ blog. It is an open source content management
system and powers over 43% of the websites all over the
Internet.
Hackers attack websites to retrieve valuable and sensitive
information, spread malware, spread activism, etc.
Many websites lack basic security features like:
• Multi-factor Authentication
• Absence of activity logs
• Strong password
• Updated plugins, firewalls, and software.
• Closed Backdoors
• Brute force login attempts
• Cross-site scripting
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How to know if a WordPress Website is hacked?
As all hack jobs are different, some can be easily
identified while others make such subtle changes that
identification happens after it is too late. So don’t worry
you can hire a wordpress expert at different packages.
Following tips and symptoms can help to identify if the
website has been compromised:
1- Warning is given by the browser
It is also known as the “Red screen of Death” and can
contain warnings depicting that the site may be
compromised. Sometimes, it could be due to some source
code alteration in the theme or plugin. Other than this,
this can be a configuration issue with domain and SSL.
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The instructions given with the warning can help in
diagnosing the problem and can recommend possible
solutions.
Some of these warnings are:
• The site ahead contains malware
• Deceptive site ahead
• Phishing site ahead
• Dangerous’ tag in the URL bar
• This site has been reported as unsafe
• Website won’t load and shows the following:
• HTTP 500 Internal Server Error, 502 Bad Gateway Error, or
503 Service Unavailable:
In some cases, the request to the server cannot be
fulfilled due to the installation of insecure plugins,
themes, or corrupted access files which results in the
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These errors can arrive when the authentication system
has been compromised and the server denies the
request. These can be viewed in the HTML preview
section or the browser.
reception of 5XX errors. However, these errors can also
occur if the source code is modified
• 401 Unauthorized, 403 Forbidden, and Connection Refused
by Host:
• Credentials compromised and login denied on WordPress
dashboard:
Users are not able to login into the dashboard with the
present credentials and the security questions may be
changed. This may result in disabling the website from
the hosting server.
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• Malware Warning Message:
Warning message prompts while searching for the site on
Google or attempting to load the site.
Google Safe Browsing Add-on will identify the potential
threats and inform the user to take corrective actions to
help with the Engineering attacks.
• Weird changes appearing on the site:
• Website Defaced/Vandalized
Some hackers try to deface the website by concealing it
with another web page to make users see that the
website has been hacked. This can simply reduce the
population on the website.
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Unauthorized new content or misleading information
found on the website.
• New Content Added
• Contact and Information Updated
Some hackers change important information like payment
details, contact information, etc. to redirect money and
important information to their accounts.
• Spam Popups Ads and compromised links:
Links on the site are directing users to suspicious
websites and attempting malware. Hackers use websites
to embed malicious ads or bad links that may cause the
installation of malware into the client systems. This
malware is not easy to detect but their action may
redirect the client to suspicious websites or links.
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• Unusual activity on website source code
• Unknown scripts and Plugins added to the site:
Recently added source code or unusual plugins installed
may compromise the integrity and security of the
website. These changes can easily be reflected in the
control panel of WordPress.
• Suspicious scheduled tasks
Web servers allow users to set up cron jobs that help to
schedule jobs. WordPress itself uses cron jobs to set up
scheduled tasks like publishing posts, deleting archive
data from trash, and so on. A hacker can use this feature
and exploit cron jobs to run unwanted scheduled tasks on
the server.
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• Unexpected File Changes
Hackers may also change or modify core WordPress files
and can create files with names similar to WordPress core
files.
WordPress security plugin enables monitoring the
health of WP core file
• Customers contacting about unauthorized charges or fraud
If users complain about fraud while visiting the website
and if the number of complaints is unusual then chances
are that the website has been hacked and compromised
to exploit finances.
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• Unable to Login into WordPress
Locked out of the WordPress user account as the
username and password have been hacked and the
recovery details have been changed
• Suspicious User/Email Accounts
New user accounts are added in the control panel with
some access that may have the authority to make
changes to the site.
• Red Flags shared by a security plugin:
If a good and reliable security plugin is installed inside
the WordPress panel, it will send some red flags that may
show an alert for a website being hacked
• New, unfamiliar user accounts or FTP/SFTP credentials:
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• Sudden drop/spike in website traffic:
Receiving notifications for sudden drops in the web traffic
despite other websites working properly. The latest traffic
can be reflected in the analytical report. It may indicate
the site has been compromised.
• Downtime Monitoring:
A sudden drop in performance on the site — it loads very
slowly or reports timeout errors.
How to prevent a WordPress site from getting
hacked
1- Upgrade to the latest version
2- Security Plugins
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3- Create a regular backup
4- Protected access to WordPress admin
5- Using strong passwords
6- Secure hosting
7- Assigning file permissions
Originally Published at : https://www.cgcolors.com
