WordPress site hacked, can't login?

Think your WordPress site is hacked and can't login?

Is your WordPress site hacked and you can't log in? Don't worry, there's a solution. Your website being hacked is one of the problems you might encounter at some point. It is annoying and frustrating! Even with a secure system, hackers may still find loopholes and weak points to access your site. Read on for our tips on how to prevent you from having your WordPress site hacked.

There are plenty of reasons why WordPress sites can be hacked. It is one of the most popular platforms and it powers 35% of the internet, and is therefore popular with hackers!. WordPress is so popular that most sites use it, so it’s highly vulnerable to attackers and becomes the target of malicious threats.

In the UK alone, you can see how popular it is by looking at Google Trends.

As a website owner if you can’t login to your own site, there’s a chance that hackers may have accessed your account. This article will discuss login issues and solutions, keeping your WordPress site secure against hackers and what to do if you need help.

5 common WordPress hacking techniques and login issues

1. Is your WordPress site hacked? It may be just the cache and cookies

Cache and cookies store information and temporary files of all the user’s interactions to different websites. Cookies are required during the login process in WordPress. And if your cookies are not enabled, you can’t login properly. If cache is not updating properly too you will be having problems when you log in.

Clearing your WordPress cache and cookies might be the way to troubleshoot your login problems. Also check if cookies are enabled in your browser. You can clear cache and cookies by pressing ctrl-shift-delete. Or click the Clear Browsing Data after selecting cache and cookies.

2. PHP errors

If you are on a shared hosting, and any of the websites that share your space get hacked, chances are that yours will get infected as well. Make sure that your web hosting is secure, up to date and each client is safely locked into their virtual environment.

Sometimes you can have a mismatch between your WordPress version and the PHP version installed on your server. They both need to be the correct stable version to avoid getting hacked via a newly discovered vulnerability. Once a weakness is discovered, hackers share and sell ways to access vulnerable websites very quickly to be able to breach the server's security before it gets patched up.

WordPress plugins can also be a problem. If you use WordPress plugins that are not tested, reviewed and updated regularly, you might become a victim of PHP Object Injection or SQL Injection that could allow hackers access the entire site. So always make sure you keep them updated when you get the notification.

3. Website shows 404 Not Found

When a 404 error message pops up, it indicates a problem with your links and means your requested page or file is missing or the server can’t find the user request.

The solution to 404 errors in WordPress can be solved by saving your permalinks or manually resetting it. Also, there are a couple of good redirection plugins that can be set up to redirect to a certain landing page in case of a missing link.

4. Plugin interference

Vulnerable plugins may interfere with your login process or caching. It may be because your plugin is not updated or there may be conflicts between one or more plugins. Sometimes, plugins can interfere with your login page especially if your plugins aren’t synced with one another, they are not compatible with the theme or with the version of WordPress you have installed.

To troubleshoot and fix this issue, you need to disable all your plugins and unused themes to see if it fixes the problem. Revert back to the default theme and deactivate all WordPress plugins, then re-enable them one by one to identify the cause of the issue. Keep in mind that it can be a combination of two or more plugins, not necessarily each plugin causing the problem on its own.

5. Error in establishing a database connection

A number of reasons can affect your WordPress database connection. It can be because of incorrect database information, wrong configuration file used after an update, unresponsive database server, or corrupt database. If this notification keeps on appearing on your whole website, it means your WordPress site cannot establish a secure data connection.

The quickest fix is to restart both your web server and the database server or reboot your server completely. You can also check your database credentials in case anything has changed there. If you discover that hackers gained access to your database, you must immediately change all passwords and limit access to the server until you find out how the breach happened.

How to keep your WordPress site safe

1. Perform regular backups

Malware infection, getting your files hacked and data loss all happen and you can lose everything if you don’t regularly back up your WordPress website. If your database gets erased or corrupted, the is a good chance you might lose your files.

Restore all your files and protect your data by performing a regular website back up. You can use Wordpress backup plugins to back up your files on the schedule you set.

2. Update themes and plugins

Updating themes and plugins increases your website's security and protects you from vulnerabilities. Make sure that you have the latest version because if they are no longer compatible with WordPress, it may cause problems that can break your website. Go to Dashboard > Updates, and check and update everything that’s been out-of-date. If you made any customisation on the plugins, make sure that the updates don't overwrite them.

Top Tip: When downloading themes for your site, always choose themes from reputable sources. For example, WordPress repository or marketplaces like ThemeForest and ThemeTrust.

3. Keep your WordPress website up to date and secure

Equip your WordPress site with recent security features to avoid security breaches, phishing attacks and hacking. Always update your site at least once a month to make sure that you don’t miss updates, bug fixes and improvements and more! It’s important to run updates as it often includes security patches.

Add a security software and a firewall plugin too to help you protect your site from threats and keep it running at its absolute best.

4. Reset Passwords

Make sure all passwords relating to your Wordpress site are reset as well as using a strong password. It is important to change or reset all passwords to prevent making your site vulnerable to hackers. Use a password manager for ultra-strong passwords.

In addition, you can add two-factor or multi-factor authentication too to make your site extra secure against unauthorized access.

5. Clean out your database

Cleaning your WordPress database should be done periodically even if you haven’t experienced hacking. It will make your database run more smoothly and efficiently. WordPress’ popularity is also the downside of this amazing website. It is prone to phishing scams and attacks. If you’re having trouble when you login to your account, you have to identify the main problem first and do preventive measures.

Follow the solutions to resolve and troubleshoot such issues. Basic security measures can also help prevent login issues and protect you from having your WordPress site hacked. Update your site and install security softwares, use strong passwords and install two-factor authentication to counter these problems and keep your WordPress website secure.

Hopefully these tips will help to keep your website safe.

If you think your WordPress site has been hacked and are unsure what to do next, call our team and they will get your website back to normal quickly. Alternatively leave us a message in the comments section below.

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