The WordfenceThreat Intelligence team has identified a critical-severity vulnerability in the WooCommerce Payments plugin that could allow an unauthenticated attacker to take over a website. The vulnerability has been patched in the latest version 5.6.2, which users should update immediately.
The vulnerability was caused by a flaw in the plugin’s authentication system that allowed an attacker to impersonate an administrator and gain full control over a website without any user interaction or social engineering. The Wordfence team developed a Proof of Concept and released a firewall rule on March 23, 2023, to protect their premium customers.
The WooCommerce Payments plugin is widely used, with over 500,000 installations, so this vulnerability is a significant threat. Wordfence advises all users to update to version 5.6.2 immediately to ensure the security of their websites.
It has not yet been confirmed whether the weakness in the plugin was detected by the developer or external sources. It’s also unknown whether anyone is using the flaw for malicious purposes, but the WordFence team foresee a significant increase in assaults when cybercriminals are able to access the Proof of Concept.
If your website has Wordfence Premium, Wordfence Care, or Wordfence Response installed, your website should already be protected by the firewall rule released on March 23, 2023. If your site is running the free version of Wordfence, the rule will become available on April 22, 2023.
It is recommended that this information be forwarded to colleagues and friends who may be using the WooCommerce Payments plugin on their website. If you believe your site has been compromised, don’t worry – KeyTech have you covered with our professional and reliable website cleaning services.
We care about your business and the safety and security of your website, so please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you ever need assistance. We’re always here to help with a knowledgeable and friendly approach.
When was the last time you updated your website and all its components?
It’s important to keep your website and server up to date for optimal security and performance. Chances are, if you haven’t updated in the past few months, the PHP version used by your website may be unsupported.With the recent end-of-life for PHP version 7.4 in November, it’s time to take action and update both your website and its server.Read on to discover why updating all components of your WordPress website and the web server that runs it is so important.
Security
One of the most important reasons for updating your WordPress website and webserver is to ensure the security of your website. Regular updates are released to fix vulnerabilities, preventcyber-attacks, and reduce the risk of your website being hackedor compromised.
Performance
Regular updates will not only improve security but will also improve the performance of your website. Newer versions of WordPress and PHP are optimised to have faster load times and improved overall performance. When website components are optimised, your website will run smoother, faster, and more efficiently, providing a better user experience for your visitors.
Compatibility
Updating your WordPress website and web server regularly ensures that your website is compatible with the latest technologies and plugins so the website functions as it should, without any compatibility issues. If compatibility issues arise, they are able to be quickly resolved.
Improved Features
Maintaining an updated website and server will allow you access to new and improved features. Newer versions of WordPress and PHP often come with new features and enhancements that can improve the functionality and usability of your website.
Don’t let outdated technology put your website at risk.
Updating your website and its components regularly not only ensures its security but also enhances its performance. So, are you ready to take the necessary steps to keep your website secure and up-to-date? Take action now and ensure the success of your online presence.
WordPressis the most popular website-building platform in the world and with good reason. It’s easy to use and incredibly versatile, allowing you to create anything from a simple blog to a complex e-Commerce storefront. But there are other benefits of using WordPress that you may not be aware of—benefits that can give your business the edge it needs to succeed in today’s competitive digital landscape. Let’s take a look at some of those benefits.
Cost Savings
One of the biggest advantages of using WordPress is its cost savings. Because it’s open-source software, anyone can use it for free—no need for expensive web design or development services. Not only that, but because WordPress has such strong community support, there are lots of free or low-cost plugins, themes, and other tools available that make building and managing your WordPress site easier than ever! If you want to save money on website development costs without sacrificing quality, then WordPress is definitely the way to go.
SEO-Friendly Platform
Another major benefit of using WordPress is its SEO-friendliness. From its built-in SEO features like meta tags and image optimisation to its wide selection of SEO plugins and tools, WordPress makes it easy to get your content seen by search engines like Google and Bing. This means more organic traffic coming to your site, which can help boost sales and increase visibility for your brand.
Security Features
WordPress offers superior security features compared to other platforms. It’s regularly updated with new security patches that protect against common threats like malware and hackers. Plus, there are plenty of plugins available that allow you to customise your security settings even further so you can rest assured knowing your site is secure from any potential threats.
As you can see, there are many advantages to using WordPress as your website platform. Not only does it save you money on web design costs and offer powerful SEO features, but it also provides robust security features that will keep your site safe from potential threats or attacks. Whether you’re just starting out or looking for ways to improve an existing website, WordPress is an excellent choice for businesses. WordPress is an affordable and powerful platform on which you can build your online presence. So why not try it out? You will not regret giving this amazing platform a chance!
It is more important than ever before to protect your website from cyberattacks. In today’s digital age, website security is a pressing concern for all businesses, large and small. A cyberattack against a public-facing website can have major repercussions, including loss of data, website downtime, denial of service (DoS), and damage to the company’s reputation. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect your website from these threats and avoid serious consequences.
While these threats affect all aspects of information security—confidentiality, integrity, and availability—they can also gravely damage the reputation of a website and its owner. For example, organisations and personal websites that fall victim to defacement, DoS, or data breaches may experience financial loss due to the loss of trust from stakeholders of the business and a decrease in website traffic.
Types of Website Security Threats
There are many different types of website security threats, but some of the most common include:
SQL injection:
SQL injection is where malicious code is injected into a website’s database. A SQL attack can steal sensitive data or take control of the affected website.
Cross-site scripting (XSS):
XSS attacks occur when an attacker injects malicious code into a webpage which is then executed by the browser when the page is loaded. An XSS attack can steal sensitive data or hijack user sessions.
Denial-of-service (DoS):
DoS attacks are designed to make a website unavailable to users by flooding it with traffic from multiple sources. This type of attack can be used to take down a website or disrupt business operations.
Phishing:
Phishing attacks are a type of social engineering attack where an attacker attempts to trick a user into divulging sensitive information such as login credentials or financial information. Phishing attacks can be conducted via email, text messages, or fake websites that mimic legitimate ones.
How to Protect Your Website from Cyberattacks
There are many steps you can take to protect your website from cyberattacks, including:
Implementing strong authentication methods:
Using strong authentication methods such as two-factor authentication can help protect against password theft and phishing attacks. Two-factor authentication requires users to provide two pieces of evidence when logging in, such as a password and a one-time code that is sent to their mobile phone.
Keeping software up-to-date:
Attackers often exploit software vulnerabilities to gain access to websites and databases. You can reduce the chance of an attacker finding vulnerabilities by keeping a website’s components up-to-date.
Restricting access to sensitive data:
Store sensitive data in an encrypted format and restrict access to authorised users only. Restricting access to sensitive data will help you reduce the risk of data breaches.
Website security is important to consider for anyone with a website. There are many safeguards that can be taken to protect a website from cyberattack, but it’s important to remember that no system is 100% secure. With cyber criminals learning how to get around the new security patches, and developing new methods to attack, it is critical that we all monitor and update our websites regularly.
Chat with KeyTech today so we can answer your website security enquiries and include website security improvements with their website maintenance services.
There are an average of 30,000 websites hacked daily! Hackers use automated tools to find vulnerabilities to exploit. Their tools can:
Guess easy website login credentials
Hack in through another website on the same server (shared server)
Detect bugs and vulnerabilitieswithin website plugins, themes, and extensions
Signs of a Hack
Often, hackers gain access to a website without being noticed and by the time they have achieved their goal, it is too late.
Signs of a website hack vary depending on the type of hack, the hacker’s agenda and how vulnerable the website is. Some tell-tale signs could include:
A defaced website
Popups
Redirection to other websites
Google and Bing alerts in search results
Webpages loading very slow
Unable to log in to your website
More traffic to your website from other countries where you are not focussed
Weird code injections in pages
Strange activities on your website
Of course, there are loads more characteristics to identify a hacked website rather than focus on them, lets focus on prevention and what to do if you get hacked.
Prevention
Ideally, it is best to prevent a website hack. A website is where your customers can get to know your business so their experience on your website is vital. If your website gets hacked, it will provide them with a bad experience, possibly leak their personally identifiable information and even affect their devices!
The best method of prevention is regularly website maintenance. The following tasks are performed as part of KeyTech’s website maintenance to prevent website vulnerabilities:
A Full Website and Database backup, stored in a separate and secure location
Security & Malware Scans
Platform, Theme, Plugin & Extension Updates
Web Server updates
Secure your website with HTTPS with an SSL certificate
In addition to website maintenance, ensure that your web hosting has security features such as:
DDOS Protection
Fortinet firewall
24/7 Malware scanning
an encrypted network.
Just like your hosting, your website should have a reputable firewall and security scanner installed to provide another wall of defence against threats.
Creating and storing complex passwords for user logins will also assist in a more secure website. There are some great free password managers available to help with generating and storing complex passwords.
What to Do If Your Website Is Hacked
If your website has been compromised, you must act quickly to prevent further damage. Spread awareness about the incident. Inform other businesses and your clients of the situation you are facing and the problems that might occur as a result.
If your website collects personally identifiable information, you must notify those involved about the breach, as per the Australian Privacy Act 1988.
Contact your webmaster so they can either regain access to your website or restore your website from a recent backup. They will reset user accounts, run an in-depth security scan, and implement additional security and/or security procedures to avoid another hack from recurring.
With an attack every 39 seconds, the statistics are frightening! A successful hack can not only cost businesses time and money, but it can also damage a business’s reputation.
If you want to learn more about this topic or chat with us about our website maintenance services, please reach out to us at your earliest convenience.
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As a small business owner, you know that your website is one of your most valuable assets. It’s your online storefront and potential customer’s first impressions of your business. You may also know that it’s essential to make sure your website is indexed by search engines so that potential customers can find you. But what does that mean, and how do you go about indexing your site? In this blog post, we’ll answer those questions and more. We’ll explain what website indexing is and how it works, as well as walk you through the steps to index your own site. So, read on to learn more!
Why is website indexing important for your online presence?
Websites that are indexed by search engines are more likely to receive organic traffic from users who are searching for relevant keywords. This organic traffic can result in higher ROI since it is typically more targeted and leads to more conversions than other forms of marketing. In addition, website indexing is important for building brand authority and generating backlinks. When your website is indexed by a search engine, it helps to create trust and credibility with users. Backlinks from high-authority websites can also help to improve your website’s ranking in search results. As a result, indexing your website can have a significant impact on your online presence. In short, indexing is vital for any website that wants to succeed online.
How does indexing work?
When you publish your website, you’re essentially making it available for anyone in the world to access. However, unless people know your website exists, they’re not going to be able to find it. This is where search engines come in. Search engines are designed to help people find relevant information on the internet, and they do this by indexing websites. The crawling process is when search engine bots visit websites and read their content. Then they take the data and add it to an index, which is effectively a giant database of websites. When someone uses a search engine to look for something, the search engine will check its index to see if there are any websites that match the person’s query. If there are, the search engine will rank the websites in order of relevancy and display them to the user. You can submit your website to a search engine, which helps them to find your site and add it to their index. Once your website is indexed, people will be able to find it when they use a search engine. Indexing is an essential part of how search engines work, as it allows them to provide relevant results to users who are looking for information on the internet.
How long does search indexing take?
New websites and pages on a website can take anywhere from 1-3 weeks to index, but most content gets picked up by search engines within 1 week. There are sometimes technical issues that could result in things taking longer than expected; this is rare though as it usually depends upon how fast Google’s algorithms pick out new information about your site!
How can you check if your website is indexed?
One way to check if your website is indexed by google is to do a google search for your website’s URL, for example, “site:yourdomain.com”. If your site appears in the results, then it is indexed. If it does not appear, then it is not indexed.There are a few ways to speed up the process if your site is not indexed. One way is to submit your website’s URL to google through their search console. This will notify Google’s search spiders to crawl your site. Another way is to create and submit a sitemap. This is a file that tells google what pages on your site are available for crawling.If neither of these methods works, it is possible that your site has been penalized by google and will not be indexed no matter what you do. In this case, the best course of action is to consult with a professional SEO specialist. They will be able to help you figure out what the problem is and how to fix it.Looking at your google analytics data can also be helpful in determining whether or not your site is being indexed. If you see that google is not crawling any of your pages, then this indicates that there may be an issue that needs to be addressed.
What challenges can search engines have when indexing?
Search engine crawlers use advanced artificial intelligence with a human-centric approach to index websites. As advanced and intelligent as they are, they still face some challenges. Some scenarios that might prevent indexing are:
1. Audio and Video Files
If you have audio files on your website, the search engine has a hard time understanding the content within the audio which is why you also publish a transcript separately to the audio/video. A transcript can be read and the context of your audio or video can be understood by search engines.
2. Too many 301 Redirects
Newer websites need to be careful how many redirects are put in place, especially due to a redesign. Too many redirects can cause your site to get ‘sandboxed’
3. Too many 404 errors
Search engines want to supply the best websites first in searches. They don’t want to list websites that have too many broken links, images or pages that no longer exist.
4. Repetitive title tags
This is an issue that can be easily fixed but is heavily penalised when websites are indexed. Make sure every page on your website has a unique title tag.
5. Using Flash or iFrames
Flash and iFrames are hard for search engines to decode, much like audio and video. With the help of Alternative text descriptions and proper titles for media files, you can help search engines understand their content.
Conclusion
Website indexation is a complex process that requires significant time, effort and resources from webmasters all over the world. The way it works seems simple enough at first glance but if you look deeper there are actually of intricate details involved in making sure your site gets found by search engines when people do searches on them online!Hopefully, you found this article helpful and that you get your website indexed so that people can find it when they do a search!
Troubleshooting
Key Technologies can help you with all of your website indexing and SEO needs. Contact us today to have a free chat with one of our specialists.
