I just saw a post on Digital Points about how to plug a link into front page of vulnerable blogs.This user found a problem with an extremely popular wordpress plugin and took advantage of it, placing his URL and gaining backlinks from websites with PR7/6/5, etc.As a matter of fact I purchased his product to get to know what it’s was about.
I’ve got a good excuse for it , even when you are on the right track you need to know the black side :-) besides I’m not using this tactic for any of my websites.
But unfortunately some Blackhat SEO spammers in their attempt to create SEO and SEM strategies will use it.
Probably this affirmation leads you to an obvious question, How can You protect your website against wannabe hackers and SEO and SEM Spammers?
Below you can find 3 easy to follow steps that will give you some primary security on your wordpress based website, based on Matt Cutts tips on the last WordCamp.
1. Drop version string in header.phpThe tag in your header.php that displays your current version of wordpress.<meta name=”generator” content=”WordPress <?php bloginfo(‘version’); ?>” />
Since everyone knows your wordpress version this way, your blog is prone to hackers if you have not upgraded to the new version.
Hide your wordpress version by deleting it or simply changing it to
<meta name=”generator” content=”WordPress” />
2. Put a blank index.html in /plugins/ directory.
In a normal wordpress installation, anyone can access your WordPress plugin folder to see which plugins you have installed. The path is
http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-content/plugins/
Try it for your blog and your entire directory structure is revealed. Just create a blank file in notepad and name it index.html and drop it in your plugins folder and the folder details will no longer be visible to the public and prevent hackers from cracking a plugin security hole.
Relating to the Digital Point’s post I found today, this query is extremely important to make the black hat work, If you turn your list invisible you’ll drop down the chances for direct attacks to plugins’ failures.
3. Check on your .htaccess
Check you .htaccess, if you find a file named “class-mail.php” you might be infected. There is no such a file, except class-phpmailer.php.
Some forums are reporting a huge spamming caused by goro Spamware injection . The spam creates a backdoor through the use of a filter’s update and a the file class-mail.php.
You might go Here to learn the way to remove the Spam Injection.
Dont forget to have a backup before any change and to upgrade your site consistently.
Cheers
Lucio Dias Ribeiro
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Hey mate,
do I need to log on on my host to access my .htaccess?
Posted by Juan R. | February 25, 2008, 3:07 amYes, you need to get it fixed using your host account.
You can ask help from help service.
If you get any problem drop me an email and I’ll help you out.
Cheers
Lucio
Posted by Lucio | February 26, 2008, 10:35 amsenks
Posted by eros | May 16, 2008, 12:51 pmyou welcome
Posted by lucioribeiro | July 24, 2008, 8:51 pm