It is said that “prevention is better than cure”. It will be a better action to take all the precautionary steps to protect your site from any attacks. Now let’s see some of the main reasons for hacking and what precautionary measures you should take.
Reasons:
There are many reasons why your site can be hacked. Some of the main reasons are as follows:
- Data theft
- Putting virus to your visitor's computers
- Using redirects to promote other sites
Precautionary measures to be taken:
- Always have a recent backup of your whole website for future uses
- Always choose a good and trusted hosting company
- Always use a web application firewall
These are only applicable before your site has been hacked. If your site is already hacked then you can follow the steps given below. It is advisable to seek professional help in the case of hacking but everybody cannot afford a professional service, so you can follow the given steps.
- Check out for the location of the hack
The most common locations of the hack are the plugin directory and themes. So check out the places where a malicious file has been uploaded and the hack has taken place. After you have found out the file remove the file from that location to resolve the hacking.
Remember to change your password before beginning the clean-up process. Also, change the password after the clean-up process is done.
- Reach out to your hosting company
Sometimes the hosting company can solve the issue by providing a malware removal service. If not that, then they can inform you about the probable steps to take after that hack.
- Restore from backup
Always make a backup of your website, so that when the hacker deletes all the data, you can restore it. Many of the important files and folders can be restored if you have a backup of your file.
- Using Plugins
You can scan the website for yourself and detect the problem. The malware can be found in the themes folder, plugin folder, or anywhere else in the file directory. You can use various software to do the work. Some of the most popular plugins are Sucuri WordPress Auditing and Theme Authenticity Checker.
- Check user permission
Check who has permission to your website. If any unknown user has your website permission then remove the account of that user from your website.
- Change your secret keys
Change all of your secret keys to make your site free from any hack. WordPress creates a security key that encrypts your password. If the hacker is already logged in to the website then he/she will be logged in because the cookies are still valid. To disable the cookies generate a new secret key and add it to your wp-config.php file.
- Change your password
Change your password again and make it harder to guess. This way the hacker will not be able to get into your website any time in the future. This is one of the most effective ways that you can do to make the site free from hackers.
Other things to do to protect your site
- Setup a website monitoring system and a firewall
- Switch to manage WordPress hosting
- Disable theme and plugin editor
- Limit the login attempts in WordPress
- Password protect your admin directory
- Disable PHP execution in some directories
If you are unable to solve the hacking issue yourself, then look out for professional solutions because it is very hard to solve the hacking issue yourself (Unless you are a coding nerd). So try all of the above steps yourself and if the issue is not solved then lookout for a professional who is good at this.
This is how you can solve the hacking issue of your website.