Dreamway Media

Having a top-rated website that ranks on the first pages of a search engine is everyone’s dream. Imagine making a website, investing hundreds of dollars for the content and designing, putting effort until it comes to the top of the search results, a most visited website! Life is good.

Plot Twist

You wake up one day and discover that you are no longer the owner of your website; someone has hacked it. It sounds like a nightmare, but this nightmare can come true any day in this century as professional hackers have their high-class agencies. We hear news of even Government websites getting hacked now and then; bank sites are at high risk. What makes you think your website is safe in such a situation? We don’t intend to threaten you; we have come up with a complete plan!

Website Hacking Stats

Just because none of your friends ever got his website hacked doesn’t mean your website is safe too. Your mind will blow to know that the number of websites hacked daily is less than 30,000. The number of times hackers attack a website was 39 times PER SECOND in 2003. According to a study in 2019, website breaching increased to over 67% in 2014-19. An increase in the cybersecurity budget reveals how it has grown even more in 2022.

Let’s break down the data of hacking incidents responsible for the loss of over $1m+ each.

Year	Number of Cyber Attack Incidents
2009	21
2010	20
2011	25
2012	23
2013	30
2014	25
2015	32
2016	39
2017	66
2018	104
2019	105

CSIS revealed these figures, including the hacking of sites related to government agencies and high-tech and defense companies. The number of such attempts has increased considerably over time; it indicates how horrible can be the future of the web world if the proper precaution and measures are not taken.

Website vulnerabilities

As the number of websites is increasing daily, they are more prone to hacker attacks. Getting into someone’s website and making desired changes is easier for a hacker than ever. Not only can they overcome the website, but terrorists can use them for malignant goals, ultimately putting the owner at risk of false allegations. Websites are more vulnerable because of the following reasons:

Broken authentication

Poor authorization and web session management functions are mainly responsible for broken authentication. This factor allows the hacker to take over one or more accounts as they can go through the not-so-secure boundaries of passwords, account information, and the owner’s personal information. It happens in the case of non-encrypted passwords, predictable session ids, predictable login details, session ids included in the URL, etc.

Security misconfiguration

These vulnerabilities lie in the software components because of either misconfiguration or insecure configuration. The developer doesn’t entirely and adequately define the configuration. Whether because of laziness or lack of skill, this lack in the configuration cloud may cause the loss of millions of dollars. Security misconfiguration may occur by running multiple services on the machine, enabling directory listing on the server, keeping default keys and passwords as it is, etc.

Sensitive data exposure

Attacks via sensitive data exposure are much more likely when the sensitive data is easily accessible to hackers. Their misuse is to gain control of the website. What’s scarier is that they can go on to hack your bank account by gaining access to credit card details. Authentication credentials, medical history, and session tokens are highly vulnerable.

No function level access control

Function-level access control should be limited to the owner or web specialists; however, sometimes, the loopholes in the configuration allow the users to gain access to the function controls. One can directly settings in the code but doing it correctly demands skill and expertise. Users then access the functions that are supposed to be restricted.

Unfiltered redirects

Sometimes, we open a website, click the desired option, and the website redirects us to seemingly malicious sites. Remote hackers use these to redirect users to confiscate their data as well.

What can I do to secure my website?

This question must have been popping up in your mind for a long time, especially if you are not an it expert. The biggest mistake of a person getting his website made is to trust just anyone to go on with his web development. If you are one of those, stop right away! It is better to pay an extra amount to authorized agencies to protect yourself from more significant losses in the future. We’ll explain it to you in this section.

Hire trusted agencies

Hiring anyone without verifying their skill and credibility might cost you a lot. One has to look for a trusted agency that complies with the PCI making the user data more secure. Such companies take measures and configure the website so that a hacker becomes significantly less likely to breach the data. The skillful and professional web developers are aware of the proper protocol needed to fix, recover, or maintain the integrity of a site. These trusted agencies take the following steps to ensure that the client’s website has no security threats:

They filter all the input to ensure that it can be trusted.
They use a framework that evades the possibility of broken authentication.
They usually don’t get back to clients with HTML tags that prevent the HTML injections from hackers.
They perform user authorization correctly and double-check it for assurance consistently.
They have reliable building and deploying processes.
Reliable developers always get done with authorization from the server-side.
The secret token must be hidden such that it is inaccessible to a third party. Access to this token must always require verification for further security assurance.
Trusted agencies know what they are doing. They don’t go on to copy and paste the code. They inspect each piece of code and use the latest versions of the used software and programs.
They restrict the redirects in any form or fix valid locations for redirects, if necessary.

Takeaway

The take-home lesson is that one must not rely on cheap ways to develop his website. Spending an extra amount to assure the website’s security can prevent more considerable losses in the future. We recommend getting your website security double-checked by experts once the website has been developed. Yes, that’s how important it is! To find out if your website has what it takes against hackers and cybercriminals, feel free to contact us for a free consultation and estimate.

Every year hundreds and thousands of WordPress websites gets launched on the internet. Is WordPress safe from hackers? The answer would be, NO!

Google blacklists about twenty thousand websites each week for malware and an additional fifty thousand for phishing. So you see the security of WordPress websites is something you should really pay attention to!

Although the core software is hugely secured, still there are plenty of people out there who are just waiting for exploiting your website.

So, is the security of WordPress websites that important? Let’s dive in deep to know more about it.

Security of WordPress Website: Keep The Hackers Away At All Cost!

If somehow your website gets hacked it might cause you some serious trouble. Your revenues from your business would take a huge hit. Sometimes hackers not only hack into the website but also steal vital information such as passwords, bank info, etc.

They can easily exploit these. Some hackers even install malicious software, which will affect your users as well!

The worst that could happen is you paying ransom money to get your website back.

In 2016, Google warned more than 50 million visitors about a mutual website they have been visiting. That website was secretly stealing all the user information and selling them on the black market.

That’s why if you own a WordPress website, you should pay extra attention to the WordPress security checks and updates.

Worried About Hackers? Check Out These 5 Ways They Could Break Your Business

Forced Attacks

For this type of attack, the hacker uses a bot to log into your WordPress site. After a great deal of trial and error, they could break the code. However, even if they couldn’t hack your login page anyhow, still they can overload your system by jamming your server with these forced attempts.

This can ultimately suspend your account.

Adding Up Files

After the forced entry your website will likely be vulnerable to them. Usually, hackers tend to attack the PHP codes next. Adding an extra layer of code would make any visitor would go to an unwanted page or download a malware file.

By doing this, they will affect your website with malware along with your visitor’s computer as well.

SQL Tampering

Your WordPress website runs on MySQL. Every little data about your account or other users account or even the visitors are listed there. In this stage, hackers would probably gain access to your MySQL database.

After that, they may create another admin-level account to gain the full control of your website. You might even notice it in the last minute!

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

The security of WordPress website is absolutely crucial. That’s why Cross-Site Scripting is one of the major issues. XSS takes up 84% of the overall security vulnerabilities.

In this one, the attacker will get the users to load a malicious web page. These web pages have insecure JavaScript running, and they can run in the background without any detection.

These scripts then attack your browser history and cached files. After collecting all the data, it will send them to the attacker.

Malware

There are so many types of malware out there, and without a proper security channel, they will get into your site one way or another.

That’s why the security of WordPress websites matter the most. An attacker can inject this malware into the code or send it by email or any other form.

If your site gets hacked, then it would likely mean it’s packed with malware. You’ll have to remove them to save your site.

WordPress Security Issues Lead To Mass Hacking: Top 4 Reasons Your Site Might Be Next!

There could be many reasons why your site is vulnerable to these security threats. These four factors could be the main protagonist behind it.

You Have a Weak Password

The biggest danger would be to use a weak password for your WordPress account. If you use your personal information for passwords, then you’re likely doomed!

The admin password should be incredibly random, consisting of several characters, number, and symbols. You also shouldn’t use this password on any other site.

Old Versions of Themes and Security Plugin for WordPress

If you are running an outdated version of plugins or themes or even WordPress, you are just welcoming attackers to hack your site.

WordPress security updates always patch up any security concerns.

So, if you don’t update your site on a regular basis, the hackers could use a security glitch to hack into your profile.

Third Party Plugins and Themes

Never use plugins or themes from unauthorized sources. Using plugins from reputable sources would guarantee the extra layer of security you’ll need. Third-party plugins are sometimes poorly written and can get easily hacked without any troubles.

Just avoid these at all costs. You can check out WordPress vulnerabilities scanner to figure out your site’s vulnerability.

Poor Quality Hosting Services

There are many hosting providers out there. But not all of them are able to provide the massive amount of security your site will need. Using poor quality hosting services can be a huge deal here.

Also, using shared hosting can be dangerous as well. If even one of the websites on the server gets hacked, it’s likely that yours might be next.<?p>

You see the security of WordPress websites are a huge deal when it comes to growing your business. That’s why you should always choose your web developers wisely. Not every web developing company pays attention to WordPress vulnerabilities you know!

We, DreamWay Media, thrive for providing top-notch cybersecurity services. We will always take your security concerns seriously and give you the best output you deserve.

If you want your website to have bulletproof security, then you should definitely check us out! If you don’t pay enough attention to it, you might lose your business, along with your internet presence entirely.

So, be safe and use security protocols for protecting your site from hackers!

Tag: Web Security

Does Your Website Have What It Takes Against Hackers and Cyber Attacks?