According to the reports, WordPress sites are often infected by the pirated plugins and themes malware. By a security firm called Wordfence, reports have been published about these threats. On the occasion, data has been obtained from about 4 million users of the installed software.
Majorly, three categories can be seen in terms of threat on WordPress. They are:
• Pirated plugins and themes malware
• Malicious attempts for login
• Vulnerability exploits
Pirated plugins and themes malware
One of the common threats on WordPress comes from the pirated plugins and themes. It is possible to observe in an excess of 70 million malicious files within 1.2 million sites in the last one year. Minimum 17% infected site has some plugin or theme malware in them.
WP-VCD malware is the universal threat for WordPress. 13% infected sites have been found in 2020 that counts about 154,928.
If a theme or a plugin is pirated then its features for licensing checking is generally removed or disabled. In this way, hackers generally obtain a backdoor access.
In order to avoid these threats, one of the best options is to buy legitimate themes and plugins. It must be updated on a regular basis also.
If you do not have the budget to buy premium theme or plugins then it is better to look for free alternatives. Reputable software provider must be chosen on the occasion to stay safe.
Malicious attempts for login
90 billion malicious attempts have been made for login through in an excess of 57 million IP addresses of unique nature. More than 2800 attacks are made to the WordPress site per second.
Credential stuffing attacks may be seen on the occasion also. On the occasion, stolen credentials, brute force traditional attacks and dictionary attacks are generally seen.
To safeguard your WordPress site from these attacks, you can utilize authentication with multi-factors. In this way, it may not be possible to enter a website without the special code and password.
Vulnerability Exploits
Reports have suggested that 9.7 million IP addresses of unique nature have made 4.3 billion attempts to take advantage of vulnerability of WordPress websites in 2020.
Most common attacks can be seen in the form of directory traversal, SQL injection, upload of malicious files, cross-site scripting and bypassing authentication vulnerabilities.
Through use of firewall, it may be possible for the WordPress site owner to protect themselves from any kind of vulnerabilities.