As the most popular content management system (CMS), WordPress site are a common target for hackers, spammers, and other malicious parties.

That is why it is vital to take measures to make your website more secure.

The goal of most hackers is to infect your website with malware.

Common malware threats include:

Pharma Hacks – Injects spam into your website database or files

Backdoors – Allows hackers to gain access to your website at any time using FTP or your WordPress admin area

Drive by Downloads – When a hacker uses a script to download a file to the users computer, either without their knowledge or by misleading the visitor and saying the software does something useful

File and Database Injections – Inserts code into your files or database that lets the hackers do a number of different things

Malicious Redirects – Redirects visitors to a page of theirs that misleads people into downloading an infected file

Phishing – Used to acquire usernames, passwords, email addresses, and other sensitive information

When most people think about a website being hacked, they think about the hacker defacing the website and placing a message to visitors e.g. Your Website has Been Hacked by ABCD!.

Defacement Example In comparison to malware infections, website defacements are rare. In reality, defacements are not that common. The majority of hackers do not want you to know that they have tampered with your website, as the first thing a website owner will do when they know that their website has been compromised is remove the malicious files in question.

Hackers who infect your website with malware are more discrete. The longer you are unaware of your website being infected, the longer they can use your website to send spam emails and infect your visitors. Even a secure WordPress website can be hacked without the owner knowing.

It is therefore important that you scan your website regularly to detect any hidden malware.

By subscribing to our Wordpress Managed Service, we will help to detect / remove malicious malware on your WordPress website.