WordPress

Why do hackers target websites?

Do you believe that your WordPress website is too insignificant to be the target of a hacker?

Then think again.

There are over 90,00 security attacks that happen every minute of every day and hackers have zero prejudice when it comes to the size of the website or business they attack.

Hackers aren’t just looking to take advantage of big corporations. They are simply looking for any kind of exploitable vulnerability.

Why WordPress Websites Are So Vulnerable

WordPress is the most used website platform in use, powering an estimated 30% of all websites worldwide. For this reason alone hackers want to damage it, but many millions of websites have been self-built by non-professionals who simply do not understand the intricacies of making a WordPress website secure. Incredibly many users stick with the default “ADMIN” user name, which immediately grants a hacker 50% of what is needed to gain access and many use their email address as the password, which can be found easily on the website. We have even seen businesses use the word “Password” as their password.

Hackers Attack Websites For All These Reasons:

1. Inject Malicious Content

Sometimes, hacking is simply about getting malicious content or code onto the front end of your WordPress site with the hopes that your visitors then click on the malicious links. They do this through comment spam, email hijacking, or through actual content submissions.

2. Steal Visitors’ Personal Information

This is the one to be most worried about. Any security breach like this can actually destroy a business, through potential compensation to visitors and customers for the money and privacy compromised in the attack. In addition a total destruction of reputation of the business will certainly follow.

3. Spread Viruses

Another way which hackers attempt to terrorize your visitors is by using your website to spread viruses and malware. They can do this by using malicious code they’ve written into the backend or with files they’ve uploaded for download on the front end. When visitors interact with these files, hackers then steal the visitors’ information or they attach themselves to visitors’ computers to further spread viruses to other websites.

4. Steal Private Information From The Business

Businesses work very hard to keep their secrets a secret. This is why it’s critical not to put vital information on the business website.

5. Use Your Web Server to Host Phishing Pages

Phishing on websites basically refers to when hackers create fake pages within your website in an attempt to collect information from visitors willing to give it. They can do this by embedding a fake contact form on the page and directly collecting information.

6. Host Legitimate Pages on Your Web Server

Not that common, but sometimes hackers actually take the time to build legitimate pages on high authority websites to improve their own SEO and steal potential sales. These pages talk about them and link back to them. With an E-commerce website they make sell a fake product people buy because they trust you. They pay but never receive a product. Where does that leave you?

7. Steal Your Server Bandwidth

Hackers can steal server bandwidth to host their own activities, such as bitcoin mining and brute force attacks on other websites.

8. Overload Your Web Server

Obviously this is relate to the concept above, but when hackers overload your web server with a huge increase of hits, this is what’s known as a distributed denial of service (or DDoS) attack. Once they hit the overload threshold, the site goes down, and they win. Why would they do this? How could a hacker benefit from taking your website offline? Here are some possible reasons:

• They could be doing it for bragging rights.
• They might have a personal or political motivation.
• The website could be just one of many victims in a broader attack.
• They want a ransom.

9. Vandalize Your Website

For the most part, a hacker might vandalize a website to gain street cred – establish hacker credibility while hurting your brand.

How Can You Protect Your Website?