Malware authors, with some notable exceptions, tend to design their malicious code to hide from sight. The techniques they use help their malware stay on the victim’s website for as long as possible and ensure execution. For example — obfuscation techniques, fake code comments, naming conventions for injections that deploy SEO spam, redirect visitors to […]
Tag Archives: WordPress Security
How to Securely Debug WordPress Errors on Your Website
While working on or maintaining your WordPress website, you’ll inevitably encounter an error that prevents it from properly functioning. Knowing how to securely debug and troubleshoot WordPress is an exceptionally important skill. But there’s one important step you’ll want to take to prevent sensitive data exposure on your website. In this article, we’ll explore how […]
WordPress Vulnerability & Patch Roundup September 2022
Vulnerability reports and responsible disclosures are essential for website security awareness and education. Automated attacks targeting known software vulnerabilities are one of the leading causes of website compromises. To help educate website owners on emerging threats to their environments, we’ve compiled a list of important security updates and vulnerability patches for the WordPress ecosystem this […]
New Malware Variants Serve Bogus CloudFlare DDoS Captcha
When attackers shift up their campaigns, change their payload or exfiltration domains, and put some extra effort into hiding their malware it’s usually a telltale sign that they are making some money off of their exploits. One such campaign is the fake CloudFlare DDoS pages which we reported on last month. The attack is simple: […]
A Guide to Virtual Patching for Website Vulnerabilities
All software has bugs — but some bugs can lead to serious security vulnerabilities that can impact your website and traffic. Vulnerabilities can be especially dangerous when your software is running over the web, since anyone can reach out and try to attack it. That’s why keeping your website up-to-date with the latest patches and […]
Gambling Spam in Visual Composer Raw HTML Element: [vc_raw_html]
Bad actors often look for clever ways to boost the rankings and visibility of their spam pages in search. One of the many black hat SEO injections that we regularly find on compromised sites involves spammy links hidden inside a with the following style “overflow:hidden;height:1px” that makes them invisible to a regular site visitor. Our […]
How Are Favicon (.ico) Files Used in Website Malware?
When a website is hacked symptoms can sometimes include unexpected, unfamiliar and strangely located favicon or .ico files. Other symptoms might include: ”This site may be hacked” warnings Strange redirects to spam websites Blocklisting by Google, Bing and other search authorities Randomly named folders containing spam files and big spam sitemaps If you’re experiencing these […]
What Is a 500 Internal Server Error & How to Fix It
A frustrating interruption to anyone’s day is the infamous 500 internal server error. When it happens not only do you lose traffic or potential site revenue, but it can also reflect badly on your site’s reputation and even affect your Google rankings. Furthermore, 500 server errors can sometimes be an indicator of compromise — the […]
WordPress Vulnerabilities & Patch Roundup — August 2022
Vulnerability reports and responsible disclosures are essential for website security awareness and education. Automated attacks targeting known software vulnerabilities are one of the leading causes of website compromises. To help educate website owners on emerging threats to their environments, we’ve compiled a list of important security updates and vulnerability patches for the WordPress ecosystem this […]
Post-Hack Instructions: SEO Spam & 404 Errors in Search Console
Every once in a while, we get a glimpse into the strange behavior that happens after a site is compromised. Hacked websites are known to result in a plethora of headaches for webmasters, including malicious redirects, broken links, and unwanted spam content. But did you also know that it can also result in problems for […]
