Labnol Our Theories On What Happened

Labnol Our Theories On What Happened Make Money Online Queries? Struggling To Get Traffic To Your Blog? Sign Up On (HBB) Forum Now!Labnol: Our Theories On What HappenedUpdated On 23/04/2017Author : Namanyay GoelTopic : SecurityShort URL : http://hbb.me/2oz2vhw CONNECT WITH HBB ON SOCIAL MEDIA Follow @HellBoundBlogLabnol, (or Digital Inspiration) and all of Amits blogs and websites were recently taken down by hackers (Fortunately, theyre back now).Here are few theories on how hackers gained access, and how you can be safe.What we know All sites by Amit were deletedThe hacking happened before 30 June 11:32PM, most probably in a 24 hour timespan.They were up and running around 1st July, 9 10 PM.You can refer Amits Tweet here: https://twitter.com/labnol/status/219317563564367872How did the hackers get in?There are many theories on this. Here are few of them, ordered by plausibility 1. Bruteforce attack on cPanel If Amit Agarwal had a weak cPanel password, there are chances that his password was bruteforced. Bruteforcing is a technique, in which the person uses as many combinations of letters as he can. The hacker usually starts out with dictionary words, then include numbers, names, birthdates, and so on. If the sites were hacked using bruteforce, it couldve taken around 1 25 hours for the hacker.2. Learning Amits password elsewhere, then trying it on cPanel/WordPress If Amit has same passwords on every site he used, Hackers couldve cracked a smaller, weaker site he might have registered on, got his credentials, then tried it on his cPanel/WordPress. If they worked there, they were lucky, or else they might have figured out a pattern in the password, which they then tried applying to his cPanel/WorPpress. LinkedIn was recently hacked. Could it be that hackers got Amits password from there, and then used it on his blog?3. Exploiting a WordPress plugin If Amit installed a plugin recently, it could be that the plugin was vulnerable, and hackers got access exploiting its vulnerability.4. Exploiting WordPress Vulnerability(ies) Now, this may seem the least likely to you, but theres still a small chance that one WPs loopholes were exploited.If you believe that WP doesnt HAVE any loopholes, think about this:READThe 3 Big Causes of Data BreachesWhat are those fixes that are done on every version of WordPress? Uh-oh! What can I do?1. Try to change your cPanel username. You have to contact your host for this, most hosts dont entertain this change, but if yours do, youre a lucky person :D.2. Increase your password strength. Your password should be at least 12 characters long. Preferably, having a few numbers, and special characters mixed in (!, 1, 7, *). The way this comic shows is okay too. Below I mentioned some useful resources for a secure password. Tips For Creating Secure And Strong Passwords Is Your Password Hackable? [INFOGRAPHIC]3. Change your WordPress username. If the people know your username, they already have a puzzle piece in place. Your name shouldnt be the username , while the generic admin is the worst. Changing your username sure gives a extra level of security. (Also, make sure your nickname, which is shown on comments and posts, is different)4. Keep different passwords everywhere. If Amits blog was hacked using #2, its a good indication that you too have to have different passwords. For example, if the password to your Facebook account and that shady site you were suspicious of are same, thats certainly not a good thing.5. Keep making regular backups. Backup your database, your wordpress posts, everything. Some useful posts about WordPress backup. Using phpMyAdmin To Backup WordPress Database Solid Tips For WordPress Backups [Simple Guide]ConclusionI hope that hacking of a big site like Labnol gives a lesson to everyone, you are never to secure. Be sure to follow the above tips, and youll (most likely) be safe.USEFUL: 20+ Basic Tips To Protect Your WordPress BlogThis article is written by Namanyay Goel. Hes a freelance web and graphic desi gner. He blogs at Mos Le Tech, where you can find design articles, tips and tricks, and tutorials.