Having a WordPress site that can be hacked easily is damaging for the brand. It may be quite similar to the home burgling. Peace of mind may be hampered on the occasion. Huge impact on the online business can be observed also.
Reasons behind hacking a WordPress site are pretty simple. For creation of a website, WordPress is considered to be one of the biggest platforms available. Based on the nature of the attack, the website may suffer with following things.
• The website may be completely defaced
• Loading and operation of the website may become slow
• Malfunction or crash may be noticed.
• White screen may be displayed
• Redirected to suspicious sites
• Customer data may be lost
Now, it may be important to know why your WordPress website may become susceptible to the hacking
Doubtful Web Host
Similar to website, WordPress website is also hosted through web host or server. However, site owners may not give too much importance on the web host while choosing it. Instead, website host may have been chosen based on its price.
As a result, the site becomes vulnerable. Hackers may able to hack your website easily due to its shared server. If one of the sites in the server is hacked then it may hamper performance of other site within the server also.
Best way to avoid the problem is to use a plan of trusted host. Dedicated or virtual server can be chosen also. If you are already into a shared plan then you can look whether they provide VPS hosting. Switch must be made to ensure security of your website.
Weak Password
Due to weak password, successful force attack may be noticed that has been targeted towards your WordPress website. Common or weak password is noticed even today. If you are using such simple and easy to decipher password then you may get into trouble in the future.
Weak password makes entry of the hacker to your admin account easy. Maximum amount of damages can be done in the process too.
Now, how can you solve this issue? It is better to ask the users to create a strong password for login. Minimum 8 characters with lower and higher keys may be best option on the occasion. Symbols and numbers can be added also. Password management tool can be utilized as well for creation of strong passwords.
Using a WordPress version that is outdated
One of the major reasons behind hacking a WordPress site is an outdated version of the platform. WordPress can be downloaded at free of cost. However, people may not upgrade the website regularly. Many of them fear that an update may crash their site.
Hackers may utilize your vulnerability. Bug present in the older version may become a way for the hackers to get into site also without any permission.
In case, there is a notification for update then it must be done immediately. If you are fearful of a crash then test can be done on the staging site.