One thing we have noted is that the security of ours is in or hands and we have to stay vigilant as much as possible otherwise our data will be in someone else’s hands which might get misused.
Talking about stealing data and misusing them, we have a new report which should concern all the WordPress database administrators, publishers and anyone who works with WordPress-based websites. Because there is a new type of attack going around where hackers are directly trying to steal WordPress configuration files instead of getting into the website.
This is because it is possible that the website host might have a leak in the system which would allow them to enter because WordPress security is known to be good. Stealing the config files would also give them raw text files of the passwords related to database, servers, admin and everything else which can be used later on for entering into the site.
Last weekend, a massive attack was launched and we have come to know that the “goal of the attack was to use old exploits to download or export wp-config.php files from unpatched websites, extract database credentials, and then use the usernames and passwords to take over databases”.
A security researcher at WordFence, popular plugin made for WordPress to protect against hacks, said that “this campaign accounted for 75% of all attempted exploits of plugin and theme vulnerabilities across the WordPress ecosystem.”
WordFence’s engineer revealed that “Wordfence blocked more than 130 million exploitation attempts on its network alone, which targeted more than 1.3 million WordPress sites, however, the attacks are believed to have targeted even many more other sites, not covered by the company’s network”. This is because WordFence doesn’t come on every WordPress site by default and users have to install the plugin for them too monitor the site.
