Now this is a rather ambiguous question we get from time to time, and there is no one easy answer…
This blog will attempt to answer this question by helping you understand what it means to be ‘hacked’, to establish or restore your faith in WordPress and educate you on how to keep your WordPress website safe and sound.
Now “Hacked” is a term that is thrown around a lot without much definition when regarding websites.
Hackers do not usually have a preference or look for specific websites to target, a hacker will most likely use an automated scanning tool which searches through the web looking for any websites with a particular vulnerability that will allow the hacker to gain access.
Because hackers can be extra stealthy, sometimes your site can get hacked and continue to work without you even knowing. Once a hacker has gained access to your website they can insert their own code, which can redirect visitors to other websites, install viruses on visitor’s computers and even bring down your entire website.
Now this is true for every website no matter how it is built.
According to WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, the user generated, online Content Management System (CMS) has over 46 million downloads and powers 19% of the entire internet!
Meaning that nearly 1 in 5 of all websites are made using WordPress!
Now that is a lot of the internet and a great deal of websites!
Therefore, due to its popularity and success it is unavoidable that some WordPress websites are hacked.
But the websites that are hacked tend to be those that are unattended or not regularly updated and are therefore vulnerable.
Over time WordPress has evolved to be a safe CMS and as long as websites are properly updated and protected then it is very unlikely that you will have any problems at all.
Here are 5 things you can do to make sure your WordPress website is an un-crackable Vault even Tom Cruise would have problems getting in to.
- Change the Admin Username
WordPress usernames are set to ‘Admin’ by default, this is half of the puzzle piece for hackers to enter your site so we suggest that you change the admin username to something a little less obvious.
- Update WordPress
Wordpress is constantly being updated to improve its usability and safety. Make sure your website has an updated version
- Update and use trusted Plugins
User created plugins are what makes WordPress functionality so great but they can also be seen as unlocked back doors to your website. When installing new plugins make sure you do a little bit of research and find the most trusted plugin for your particular function.
- BackUp
In the unlikely event that everything hits the fan and your website becomes corrupted make sure you have an up to date backup. It is much easier to restore a past version of your website than it is to fix a hacked version.
- Use a safe hosting provider
Your website hosting provider is also another entry point that hackers can target. Make sure you are hosting your website with a trusted and safe provider.
Dubzz Digital Marketing builds websites using WordPress which is a user generated online Content Management System (CMS) used all over the world.
We prefer to use this particular CMS to build our websites as it is safe and simple enough that once built, our clients or any average person is able to update and maintain their own website without needing to have any techie skills.
It is also very SEO friendly and has no limitations in terms of what can and can’t be done to the website, the number of pages that can be added and the functionality within the website.
WordPress is highly regarded among web designers and many notable organisations use WordPress to build their websites such as the New York Times, Ebay and many others.
If you require any more information about the security of your site, please contact us at anytime. We will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.