해커가 WordPress 웹사이트를 공격할까봐 걱정되십니까? 걱정하지 말라고 말씀드리고 싶지만 진실은 WordPress 웹사이트가 지속적으로 해커의 표적이 되고 있다는 것입니다. WordPress가 인터넷에 있는 모든 웹사이트의 3분의 1을 차지하는 인기 덕분입니다.
WordPress 자체는 안전한 웹사이트 구축 플랫폼이지만 단독으로 작동하지는 않습니다. WordPress 사이트를 실행하려면 플러그인과 테마가 필요합니다. 플러그인과 테마는 종종 해커가 웹사이트를 해킹하기 위해 악용하는 취약점을 개발합니다.
웹 사이트에 액세스하면 민감한 정보 도용, 고객 사기, 불법 콘텐츠 표시와 같은 모든 종류의 악의적인 활동을 실행합니다. 한편, 귀하의 사이트는 검색 결과에 경고 플래그가 지정되거나 Google에서 블랙리스트에 올리거나 웹호스트에 의해 정지될 수 있습니다. 이 모든 것이 방문자와 수익의 손실로 이어집니다.
WordPress 개발자는 플랫폼을 최대한 안전하게 유지하지만 WordPress 사이트 소유자도 스스로 조치를 취해야 합니다. 이 기사에서는 WordPress 사이트에 대한 가장 일반적인 공격과 이에 대해 취할 수 있는 예방 조치에 대해 설명합니다.
틀;DR: 워드프레스 웹사이트를 공격하는 해커가 걱정된다면 즉시 웹사이트 보호 조치를 취할 수 있습니다. WordPress 보안 플러그인 MalCare를 설치할 수 있습니다. 매일 사이트를 스캔 및 모니터링하고 해커가 침입하려는 시도를 차단합니다.
WordPress가 해커의 인기 타겟인 이유는 무엇입니까?
워드프레스는 코딩을 몰라도 누구나 웹사이트를 구축할 수 있는 웹사이트 구축 플랫폼입니다. 게다가 워드프레스는 무료입니다.
결과적으로 이 플랫폼은 오늘날 13억 개 이상의 활성 사이트에 전력을 공급하고 있습니다.
이 모든 것의 단점은 WordPress 웹사이트가 다른 플랫폼에 구축된 웹사이트보다 더 많이 타겟팅된다는 것입니다.
이제 해커가 사이트에 침입할 수 있는 여러 가지 방법이 있습니다. 우리는 그것을 가장 일반적인 5개로 좁혔습니다. 무슨 일이 일어나고 WordPress 사이트를 보호할 수 있는지 설명하겠습니다.
WordPress 웹사이트에 대한 가장 일반적인 5가지 공격
1. 취약한 플러그인 및 테마
WordPress 사이트는 핵심 설치, 테마 및 플러그인의 세 가지 요소를 사용하여 생성됩니다. 세 가지 요소 모두 사이트를 해킹에 취약하게 만들 가능성이 있습니다.
수년 동안 WordPress 코어에는 주요 취약점이 없었습니다. 경험이 풍부하고 자격을 갖춘 개발자 팀이 유지 관리합니다. 그들은 플랫폼이 완전히 안전한지 확인하기 위해 열심히 노력하므로 걱정할 필요가 없습니다.
그러나 WordPress 플러그인 및 테마는 타사 개발자에 의해 생성되며 WordPress 취약점을 상당히 자주 개발하는 경향이 있습니다.
개발자는 취약점을 발견하면 즉시 수정하고 업데이트된 버전을 출시합니다.
사이트 소유자인 귀하는 최신 버전으로 업데이트해야 하며 귀하의 사이트는 안전합니다. 이러한 보안 업데이트를 즉시 설치하는 것이 중요합니다. 개발자가 업데이트를 출시할 때 업데이트 이유도 함께 공개하기 때문입니다. 따라서 취약점이 대중에게 공개됩니다.
이는 이제 해커가 취약점이 존재한다는 것을 알고 있음을 의미합니다. 그들은 또한 모든 사이트 소유자가 사이트를 즉시 업데이트하지 않는다는 것을 알고 있습니다. 따라서 플러그인이나 테마가 취약하다는 것을 알게 되면 봇과 스캐너를 프로그래밍하여 인터넷을 크롤링하고 이를 사용하는 사이트를 찾습니다. 취약점이 무엇인지 정확히 알면 wp feed 맬웨어 등과 같은 맬웨어를 쉽게 악용, 침입 및 삽입할 수 있습니다.
취약한 플러그인 및 테마로부터 사이트를 보호하는 방법
- WordPress 저장소 또는 ThemeForest 및 Code Canyon과 같은 마켓플레이스에서 찾을 수 있는 신뢰할 수 있는 테마 및 플러그인만 사용하십시오.
- 플러그인 목록을 정기적으로 확인하고 사용하는 플러그인만 보관하십시오. 필요하지 않거나 비활성 상태인 항목을 삭제하세요.
- Scan your theme regularly and Ideally, you should keep only the theme that you are actively using.
- Never use pirated themes and plugins. They usually contain malware that will infect your website.
- Ensure you recognise all the plugins and themes on your site. Sometimes hackers install their own plugins and themes that have website backdoors installed. This gives them a secret access to your site.
2. Brute Force Attacks
To login to your WordPress site, you need to enter your login credentials i.e., a username and password.
Many times, WordPress site owners use usernames and passwords that are easy to remember. Many WordPress users retain the default username ‘admin’. Common passwords include ‘password123’ or ‘1234567’.
Hackers are well aware of this and attack the login page of WordPress sites.
They create a database of commonly used usernames and passwords. Next, they program bots to target WordPress sites and attempt different combinations present in their database.
If your login credentials are weak, the bots have a high chance of guessing it and breaking into your site. This is known as ‘Brute Force Attacks’ and is estimated that they have a 10% success rate!
How to Protect Your site Against Brute Forcing
There are a couple of steps you can take to secure your site against brute force attacks:
- By default, your WordPress username is admin. You can change it from admin to something more unique.
- Use a strong WordPress password. We suggest using a passphrase in combination with numerals and symbols such as Birdsofafeather123$.
- Use unique credentials that you have not used on other websites.
- Limit the number of login attempts on your site. This means a WordPress user will have only limited chances to enter the right credentials such as 3 attempts or 5 attempts. After this, they will need to use the ‘forgot password’ option. You can install our MalCare security plugin on your site and it will automatically implement this login protection for you.
- Use two-factor authentication wherein a WordPress user has to enter their credentials along with a one-time password that is generated on their smartphones or sent to their registered email address.
3. Injection Attacks
Almost every website has an input field like a contact form, a site search bar, or a comments section that enables visitors to enter data. Some websites also allow visitors to upload documents and image files.
Usually this data is accepted and sent to your database to be processed and stored. These fields need proper configuration to validate and sanitise the data before it goes to your database. This will ensure that only valid data is accepted. If these measures are lacking, hackers exploit it and enter malicious code.
Let’s take an example of a WordPress site that has a contact form on it. Ideally this form should accept a name, an email address, and a phone number.
- The name field should accept only letters of the alphabet.
- The email address field should accept a valid email address format such as [email protected].
- The phone number field should contain only digits.
Now if these configurations aren’t in place, a hacker can insert malicious scripts such as:
String userLoginQuery =
"SELECT user_id, username, password_hash FROM users WHERE username = '"
+ request.getParameter("user") + "'";
This is a code that’ll command the database to execute certain functions. In this way, hackers are able to run malicious scripts on your site which they can use to gain full control of your site.
The most popular injection attacks on WordPress sites include SQL injection attacks and Cross-Site Scripting.
How to Protect Your Website Against Injection Attacks
- Many injection attacks stem from themes and plugins that enable visitor input on your site. We suggest using only trusted themes and plugins. Next, keep your plugins and theme up to date always.
- Control field entries and data submissions. This is technical and would require a developer’s assistance.
- Use a WordPress firewall. If you’ve installed MalCare on your site, it automatically puts up a robust firewall to defend your site against hackers.
4. Phishing and Data Theft
Visitors interact with your website in different ways. Some of them just read your blog posts, others contact you through your contact from, and so on. If you run an ecommerce site then many visitors buy items from your website. This means they need to log into your website and enter credit card information.
When someone enters credit card information to your site, it transfers and stores the information on your site server. This information can be intercepted while it’s being transferred. Moreover, the credit card data can be stolen.
They may also break into your website and pose as you. They send emails or redirect visitors to other websites and trick them into revealing personal data and payment information.
How To Protect Your Site From Phishing and Data Theft
- Use an SSL certificate. This will encrypt the data that’s being transferred from and to your site. Even if a hacker intercepts it, they cannot use it as they won’t be able to decipher it. Refer to our guide on using SSL and HTTPS. It will also remove WordPress site not secure warning on your site.
- Use a WordPress Security Plugin to receive alerts if there’s any suspicious activity on your website. The plugin will also block hack attempts.
5. Cookie Stealing
Have you noticed that when you log into a site, your browser requests to ‘remember me’ or ‘save password’? This is done so that you don’t have to enter your login credentials every time you want to access a website. You can opt to allow the browser to save your login details.
Browsers can save such data because of cookies. Cookies are tiny bits of data that record a visitor’s interaction with a website. For instance, if you run an online store, your site might track a customer’s journey such as what product they searched for and what they purchased. This data is used in analytics and also advertisers tailor ads to the visitor’s preference. Now, cookies can also store bank details and personal information.
If a hacker is able to steal your website’s cookies, they can access sensitive data of your business and your visitors. They can exploit this data to carry out their malicious acts such as defrauding customers by using their credit card information.
You can read up more on this in our easy guide to Cookie Stealing and Session Hijacking.
How To Protect Your Site From Cookie Stealing and Session Hijacking
- Change your WordPress keys and salts regularly. Keys and salts provide secure encryption of the information stored in the browser’s cookies. This measure is technical in nature. We recommend using MalCare’s WordPress hardening feature to change your keys and salts. From the MalCare dashboard, access Security> WordPress hardening> Change WordPress Security Keys and Salts.
- Here too, we recommend installing an SSL certificate to protect your website’s data.
That brings us to an end on the most common WordPress Attacks. Before we wrap up, we’d like to show you a few WordPress hardening measures that will make your site stronger against such attacks.
How To Harden Your WordPress Site Against Attacks ?
While you can take specific measures to protect your website against certain attacks, there are some overall security measures you can implement on your site for better protection. These are called WordPress hardening measures. We’ve explained it in brief here, but you can read our in-depth guide on WordPress Hardening for more detailed explanations.
1. Disabling the file editor
WordPress has a feature that enables you to edit theme and plugin files directly from the dashboard. Many website owners don’t need this feature, it is mostly used by developers. But if a hacker breaks into your wp-admin dashboard, they can insert malicious code into your theme and plugin files. Thus, if you don’t need this feature, it can be disabled.
2. Disabling plugin or theme installations
When hackers can access your site, they install their own plugins or themes. These plugins and themes are usually malicious and contain backdoors. This gives hackers a secret entry into your site.
Plus, as we mentioned, vulnerable themes and plugins are a top cause of hacked sites. If you have multiple users on your website, they may install a plugin or theme that isn’t secure. This can open up your site to hackers. If you want to avoid this, you can disable plugin and theme installations on your site.
If you don’t regularly install plugins and themes on your site, you can disable the installation option.
3. Limiting login attempts
As we mentioned before, you can limit the number of chances a WordPress user has to enter the correct login credentials to enter the site. This eliminates the risk of brute force attacks.
4. Changing security keys and salts
Keys and salts encrypt the information stored in your browser. So even if a hacker manages to steal your cookies, they can’t decipher it. However, if a hacker accesses these keys and salts, they can use it to decrypt the cookies. Regularly changing your keys and salts can help avoid cookie theft.
5. Blocking PHP execution in unknown folders
There are only certain files and folders on your WordPress site that execute code. Other folders only store information such as your Uploads folder that stores images and videos.
However, when a hacker gains access to your website, they insert php code into random folders or even create their own folders.
You can block such activity by disabling PHP executions in unknown folders.
Implementing these measures requires technical expertise. We don’t recommend doing it manually. It’s much safer and easier to use a plugin like MalCare that lets you do this in just a few clicks.
With that, we’re confident your WordPress website is secured and protected against hackers.
Final Thoughts
Hackers have a multitude of ways to break into your WordPress site and they come up with new ones ever so often!
You need to take your security measures to protect your website and ensure it’s safe against hack attacks.
We recommend using our MalCare Security Plugin to secure your WordPress site. It will block hackers and malicious bots from accessing your site. You can rest assured your site is being monitored and protected.
Prevent Hacks With our MalCare Security Plugin !