WordPress websites are more susceptible to hacking, spamming and other attacks for their popularity in the sphere of online content management. The widely popular notion about hacking is that most of the people think that hackers will deface their website after hacking and announce it freely to them that their website has been hacked. This notion is completely wrong as hackers do not leave any hint about their activity. If they would have proclaimed their activity after hacking then, the owner of the website would have surely removed all the malicious files. Hackers who infect your website make sure that you do not realize that your website has been hacked as long as possible so that they can utilize the website to infect the visitors and send spam emails. So, it is of utmost importance that you regularly scan your website to identify malware.
The main intention of hackers is to taint your website with malware. The usual malware threats are:
Pharma hacks: Hackers infest your database or files with spam in this type of malware threat.
Backdoors: This malware permits the hacker to access your website through your FTP or the admin area of WordPress.
Drive by downloads: In this type of malware threat, a hacker uses a script for downloading a file to the user’s computer. They may do this without the knowledge of the users or by misleading them informing that the software is useful.
Database and file injections: Hackers injects a code into your database and files so that they can carry on with their different malicious activities.
Deceitful redirects: Hackers deceptively redirects the visitors to their page and mislead them to download an infected file.
Phishing: Hackers acquires email address, usernames, passwords and other sensitive information through this method.
Some services and plugin methods can help you to detect the infested malware on your website of WordPress.
Sucuri malware scanning?
Sucuri is one of the best malware scanning solutions. This free scanner can effectively scan your website for defacements, malware and spam injections and can identify whether the website is blacklisted. If you subscribe to their premium plan of $89.99, the scanner will eliminate malware and prevent blacklisting for you. It also offers a plugin for WordPress calles Sucuri Security which will help in scanning your website, securing your website with firewall and update you about the last logins.
CodeGuard
Codeguard offers automated backup services along with regular monitoring for the detection of malware. The subscription plans for this service starts from $5per month.
Theme authenticity checker
This plugin is capable of scanning the theme of your website and detecting malware.
Other plugins
WP Antivirus site protection can scan your website for backdoors, Trojan horses, worms, etc. You can also use AntiVirus which is a free WordPress plugin for detecting malware while using Anti-malware can safeguard your website from malware. Quettera web malware scanner can reveal you the list of doubtful files after scanning. Wenahu also created much buzz for performing regular scan on your website. You must be aware of Wordfence security for scanning your WordPress website. If you want to be aware of the alterations in your database or files, then you can try WP Changes Tracker & security audit log.