Quick Hacker Warning For Those Using WordPress

6 replies
I just got finished with a nice 8 hour battle fixing a hacking problem and I learned very important information about WordPress that I thought I would share. It's at least something you should be aware of.

If you don't keep WordPress updated and your plugins updated, you are in danger of being hacked. Obvious right... THIS INCLUDES SITES THAT YOU DON'T OPERATE ANYMORE BUT WERE USING YOUR HOSTING!!!


4 years ago, I created a fitness site. It was one my first site I hosted on Godaddy. 2 years ago, I had no use for the domain or the site anymore, so I cancelled the domain subscription and deleted my files.

I continued to use this GoDaddy hosting for more sites... but this original wordpress setup that hasn't been updated since the site was deleted was the opening for the hackers apparently.

They also informed me if this type of problem wasn't fixed, my sites could be blacklisted from Google.

Becareful!


Travis
#hacker #quick #warning #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author manicmethods
    Jeez? So EVERY site, new and old, has to have everything updated?

    Don't suppose you know if Wordpress are aware of this?
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  • Profile picture of the author cenmegasys
    I continued to use this GoDaddy hosting for more sites... but this original wordpress setup that hasn't been updated since the site was deleted was the opening for the hackers apparently.
    Why didn't you delete the original wordpress set up?
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  • Profile picture of the author ecdavis
    Thank you for the heads up. This is good to be aware of. Normally, I think when I take a site down, I also delete the files and delete the domain from the hosting (reseller hosting).
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Kage
    Thanks for the information. When I delete a website, I leave no footprint.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      I think a lot of people go in and delete the WP folders, and think that they've deleted the site. But the database is still floating around on the server, ready for the first hacker who finds it and cracks it.

      If you are going to delete a WP site, delete the database and the files.
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