Why Would a Hacker Hack My WordPress Website

mrme

This article is mostly to educate about the reality of hackers that are out there.

Do I need to worry if my business is small?

To answer that, let me tell you this. 51.8% of website traffic is not from humans(source). Bots don’t differentiate between a big eCommerce site and a small community charity organization. They just attack. Some estimates have even pegged 70% of WordPress sites as being vulnerable(source). It’s just a matter of time before a bot looking for the right vulnerability comes along, so please keep your website up to date, and install some security plugins.

Why would somebody hack my WordPress website

Hackers will create bots that they unleash on the web because of the following reasons

  • They want to fill your website with spam that makes Google and Bing think your promoting other sites (especially porn and phishing websites).
  • They want to use your website to hack into other websites.
  • They want to send spam emails from a server that hasn’t been blacklisted.
  • They can use your website for phishing.
  • They can use your website as a place to store downloads containing viruses.
  • They can replace your advertisements with advertisements connected to an account they control.
  • They can blackmail you.

The first reason listed is the most common reason why I have seen people will hack into other sites. Unless they are trying to blackmail you, they do not want you to know they have compromised your server. Even though the damage may not be visible on your website, failure to take action could lead to Google blacklisting your site from Google search results, and your web-host could shut you down until you get the website cleaned up.

 

What should I do about it

You have two options. You can have a professional company like wp-overwatch.com take care of maintaining your website, or you can implement those items talked about in the security section of this website.

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