May, 2016 : Stopping a WordPress Backdoor Exploit Hack

📅 May 20, 2016 - Nothing is worse than realizing you've been hacked on your website. You may have run into this before and already cleaned up your site to avoid it again, but here it is happening again and again. It's almost as if your account has another admin that is accessing your site but you don't see any others listed.

When you speak to WordPress and they can see another admin on your account, you know you've run into a hacker situation that was hidden from you. You have to stop WordPress Backdoor Exploits to avoid getting regularly hacked. It's time to understand more about these types of hacks and how to avoid them going forward.

Understanding backdoor exploits

If you have never heard of backdoor exploits, this is a term used to describe a site that has been hacked in which the hacker gains access to the admin dashboard. Without having to access your site through the front-end login page, the hacker gets into the site in a backdoor sense.

A hacker would do so by making a script that is injected into the site and allows access to the hacker whenever desired. Similar to a house break-in, the hacker is essentially making their own key to get into your backdoor. A hacker wouldn't be noticed like a user who gets into your site from a login page.

What happens when you're hacked

Likely a hacker will do one of a few things when they hack you in this way. They will collect personal information for spamming purposes or send spam emails from your site to make users believe it was from you. They may simply add themselves as a hidden admin or change things about your site to help with spamming purposes. Sometimes they will upload a file in the site with the backdoor script enclosed.

Hackers get into your site through vulnerabilities like bugs that were found and could be avoided by regular updates. You should always your version of WordPress since the security holes in old versions are known to the public and put those who haven't updated at risk. Update your site, your plugins, and your themes to avoid vulnerabilities. You should do this as soon as possible rather than a certain day during the week or month because the longer you wait, the more likely you'll get hacked.

What to do if you get hacked and how to avoid it in the future

Now that you understand these hacks, you need to know what to do about it if it happens to you. You should start with a disaster recovery plan because a backup can act as a fail-safe for you where it's less difficult to restore your site in the event of a disaster. Look for announcements of vulnerabilities mentioned by WordPress, from themes, and from plugins in order to be aware of a bug that is out there.

Keep an eye out for your site's appearance on the web to see if there are messages that let visitors know that your site may have been hacked, such as a popup that says the site is not safe to enter, a certificate not to be trusted, or a white screen of death.

If it's discovered that there is a hidden admin or your site's clearly been hacked, it's time for damage control. Look in your database for a list of the user accounts and if there is someone there that shouldn't be, delete to remove them. Do a clean sweep of your site and download a plugin to help you search for traces that someone hacked you.

The plugin will likely take care of the problem for you. There are many great plugins that can be installed to help you scan and search for hacks before helping you resolve them. Try VaultPress, Wordfence Security, or Sucuri Security to help with malware and hacks, cleaning up your site, and detecting threats.

Once you've installed the right plugins, deleted hidden admins, and cleaned up your site, you should be free from hackers in the future. Be sure to always update your site and plugins to avoid vulnerabilities in the future for a WordPress Backdoor Exploit.