Constantly worrying about Malware Issues? Here is what you need to know to Keep Your Website Safe!!

Nowadays it has been a tedious process to keep the site safe and secured. There are a plethora of viruses and malware which are hitting the websites frequently. This is specifically applicable if the site is in WordPress.

What actually are Malware issues?

Malware is the suspicious software developed with the intent of hacking and penetrating into the site to steal your information without the consent of the owner. These are designed to cause serious damage, to your site, server, computer, etc.

Today Cyber attacks have been more common and targetting small organizations. With the increase of malware attacks, it becomes mandatory to know and understand their types, attacking methodologies, detection, and malware removal procedures to stay protected.

Types of Malware:

These are the most common Malware encountered by numerous people.

• Computer Virus

These viruses self-replicates itself and cause huge damage to the files and folders on the system.

These are intended to a great loss leading to unrepairable damages.

• Spyware

As the name suggests, it acts as a Spy to the victim. It is secretly implanted on the computing device by the hackers.

The spyware collects the whole information and sends it to the hacker.

• Adware

The name says it all! It is devised to pop-up unwanted advertisements on the victim’s computer without their permission.

The pop-ups are uncontrollable and tend to behave erratically, they usually appear numerous times on the screen and it becomes a tedious task to close them.

How do they affect the site?

These could the possible reasons by which they may infiltrate the website.

• Change in the appearance of your site.

If you notice a desirable change in your site, there is a possibility that your site could have been attacked.

• Loaded with Advertisements.

Frustrated with dumped Advertisements? If ‘Yes’, then your site could have been attacked.

• Redirected to other sites.

If your users are frequently redirected to some other sites, an attack could have happened.

• Grant cybercriminals access to your site. (hack customer data)

If you give less importance to the security of your site, hackers would access your site to steal your information.

• Place spam content on your site.

There are high chances of attack if your site contains spam content everywhere.

• Affect SEO.

SEO being an important factor to get noticed, could also be prone to the attacks. This may probably affect your SEO rankings.

• Drive-by downloads.

Sometimes you should be more concerned with what you open and download. If you aren’t aware of the sender in an Email, there is a possibility that it can be a virus as well!

So, what are the major reasons behind them?

If your issue gets matched with all the above, then these are the possible reasons:

• Weak Passwords

This is the first and foremost reason to be. If you provide Weak Passwords, Hackers could easily identify and infiltrate your site.

• Not Updating WordPress, Plugins or Themes

If your site is probably in WordPress, you should keep it updated with the plugins and themes which you have installed.

• Using Plugins and Themes from Untrustworthy Sources

Make sure you install themes and plugins from Trusted Sources only. Else, there can be a serious attack which could happen.

• Using Poor-Quality or Shared Hosting

Added to the Downloads from the Trusted Sources, it is a must to have a reputed Hosting which needs to be done.

So How to Identify the Attack?

These are some ways which you can perform to identify the attack!

• Scan Your Site.

Give a Deep Scan to your site. Right from Home Page to every single page of the site.

• Check Core File Integrity

Once you have completely checked the whole site, you need to check the vital file directories such as wp-admin, wp-includes, and root folders.

• Check Recently Modified Files.

This is a mandatory thing which you need to perform since they are high chances that your latest files would have been the viruses.

What are all the Vulnerabilities which are possible?

With a numerous number of viruses hitting the websites all over, these four can be the indispensably happening attacks when it comes to WordPress sites.

• Brute Force Attacks

This is the most common way of attacking by guessing the passwords randomly.

• File Inclusion Exploits

This Web Vulnerability is commonly found in web applications which rely on a scripting runtime.

• SQL Injections

This is a Code Injection Technique by which data are attacked by hackers.

• Cross-Site Scripting

This enables attackers to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users.

So, How what are the Precautions?

These are the prevention steps you need to keep in mind if you give importance to the security of your site.

• Investing In The Right Web Hosting
  i. Shared Hosting
  ii. Dedicated Hosting
  iii. Cloud Hosting
  iv. Managed Cloud Hosting
• Backing up the Site Files and Database.
• Making a Strong Password.
• Limiting Login Attempts.
• Changing WordPress Login URL and Default Username.
• Keeping WordPress User Updated.
• Deleting Unused Plugins or Themes.
• Preventing SQL Injection And URL Hacking Using .htaccess Rules.
• Denying Access To Sensitive Files in WordPress.
• Hiding WordPress version & Change Default Prefix For Database.
  

Prevention Using Plugins:

One can make use of plugins as well to prevent the attack from the hackers.

1. Name of the Plugin: Wordfence Security – Firewall & Malware Scan
   Plugin URL: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/
2. Name of the Plugin: Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall
   Plugin URL: https://wordpress.org/plugins/gotmls/
   

Final Words

In this Digital World, having an online presence is a must for generating a potential number of leads. Security has to be a primary factor when you consider an online presence. These strategies would be helpful from preventing you from attackers we hope.

If you have any suggestions or comments, do comment them in the comments section below!

Thanks for Reading!