WordPress has been no stranger when it comes to malware and hijacked websites. But to make it worse, the hacker rings are starting to target e-Commerce WordPress sites by installing their own e-commerce stores. This can be very impactful to many people who don’t even know that they have hidden websites embedded into their pages. What’s the purpose? The hacker gangs are doing this to hijack the SEO and reputation of the companies and their websites and use online scams to steal information from customers and other personnel that operate within these e-Commerce WordPress sites.
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How Did These E-commerce WordPress Site Attacks Happen?
Hackers and lax security measures are to blame for most of these e-commerce WordPress site breaches.
Late last year, companies started finding out that there were attacks that allowed the cybercriminals to use brute force to get into their websites via the administrator’s account. The hackers then changed the main index of the entire site file to inject malicious code. The virus code acted as a web proxy to redirect income web traffic to a control server that allowed the hackers to do their magic. This server is where all of the attacks ended up taking place on the unknowing victims. And it’s all still happening today!
Were There Many Stores?
There were thousands of e-commerce WordPress sites that have been attacked and compromised in the past year.
Believe it or not, there were over 7,000 e-commerce WordPress sites that were run by these horrible hackers. This was extremely dangerous because victims would insert their payment details when they ended up providing them. Needless to say, the damage to these companies’ credibility and reputation was negatively impacted. These companies noticed that the victim admins of the websites ended up losing their Google and other engines’ SERP (search engines results page) rankings, therefore harming the entire rankings and SEO of the website. They do this by injecting XML-generated sitemaps that have a mixture of the site’s authentic pages with the cybercriminals’ fake stores.
How Is This Dangerous for You?
You wouldn’t leave your doors unlocked at your home when you’re not there or are asleep, would you? Then why would you leave the backdoor wide open on your network just waiting to be breached?
For starters, many companies host their own websites on a central server when it comes to the corporate or small business level. This can be extremely dangerous and allow attackers further backdoor access to hijack more data, insert ransomware, and do a wide world of hurt to the companies they’re trying to deface. At the same time, it allows them to use a tactic that extorts the SEO of a company’s website (which is nothing new when it comes to the business world) for malware and hijacking. While it’s been said that there are cyber attacks on competitors for businesses that are similar, this isn’t done by completely taking over their website.
How Can I Protect My Business Website That Is Not an E-Commerce WordPress Site?
To find a reliable web hosting partner, you may want to ask your IT specialists since they should have experience with the pros and cons of each hosting service.
If you host your website online, the first line of defense is to either find a reputable web host that can provide this or use a local company of professionals that has web hosting packages with the highest cybersecurity possible. You can end up having lower fees this way and add an all-in-one security solution to enable more defense for your company to be safe and your business website’s pages.
If a hijacker ends up getting into your system, there may be more accounts that can be compromised too. This can end up getting you in legal trouble with customers, competitors, and even your employees if their information gets stolen due to the data breach. You can also put yourself at risk for further discrepancies, which can destroy your business.
Our Final Thoughts
Infinity Solutions has an all-in-one security solution for businesses, but many people don’t know that we also provide a web hosting service. Customers rest assured knowing that all of their website data is protected at the highest security level. No matter if you are running an e-commerce WordPress site or a regular, we have your back. We offer flexible solutions to give you whatever you need and even allow you to back things up in case of an emergency (one of the biggest defenses against hackers and ransomware). You can give us a call and speak to one of the representatives, or you can always choose one of the other hosting providers we mentioned in one of our previous posts.