In WordPress websites, we generally install third-party plugins/themes for integrating additional features. But most of the time, we are not aware of the inherent security vulnerabilities of these plugins/themes which act as critical loopholes that are targeted by hackers/malware botnets, etc. Some plugins provide regular updates for patching those issues. But if we fail to do them, it leads to the exploitation of the vulnerabilities and severe malware infection.

2. Wordpress is the most popular content management system on
the web. Besides the popularity, it has many advantages. But
unfortunately, it comes with certain downsides as well. if you
go by statistics, more than 70% of WordPress installations are
vulnerable to hacker attacks.
In WordPress websites, we generally install third-party
plugins/themes for integrating additional features. But most
of the time, we are not aware of the inherent security
vulnerabilities of these plugins/themes which act as critical
loopholes that are targeted by hackers/malware botnets, etc.
Some plugins provide regular updates for patching those
issues. But if we fail to do them, it leads to the exploitation of
the vulnerabilities and severe malware infection.

3. Why secure WordPress websites before enabling SEO?
We know that bots crawl websites. But nowadays, bots make
more visits to websites than human traffic. Malware Bots
attack by trying a set of tentative URLs on websites. If a
website has a vulnerability, and it gets figured out by the
malware through this approach, the website becomes a
candidate for exploitation. So, before enabling SEO on a
website, we need to make sure that the website is secure;
otherwise, you are at the mercy of bad bots which will take
advantage of it. In some cases, malware can damage a site’s
relationship with leading search engines by injecting malicious
contents.

4. Effects of Malware Infection:
WP-admin will not be accessible due to unwanted 302
redirects to third-party malicious websites.
.htaccess file content will be changed even though it has
proper file permission.
Files with extension .php.suspected will be created along with
many duplicates of stylewpp.php.
Random posts will be created in WP DB.
Unknown admin users may have been created.
Steps to prevent Malware Infection:
Take a regular backup of codebase and database.
Restore content of .htaccess file and set proper file
permission.
Click here to know more.

5. Content Source: Medium
Contented by: Mindfire Solutions