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Website Security is a very serious issue in this evergrowing internet generation. WordPress is very a large user base CMS and blogging application used by many peoples around the globe. And due to this hackers, these days have more opportunities to hack into your website using plugins and themes that you’re using in your WordPress website.

Many people are fresher or they didn’t new the risk of using free or nulled plugins and themes found on the internet. No matter how techie you are or how much you have experience in coding or website building, hackers still can find a way to get into your website and nulled themes and plugins play a major role in it.

Maybe today you are using a nulled theme or plugin and you are having no issue but my friend “It is a silence before the storm”. Because hackers inject their codes in nulled themes and plugins and you can’t even find or distinguish them because they look almost identical to the theme or plugin you’re using.

So, how to protect yourself from getting hacked? maybe I can help to some sort of it…

Do not download anything from any unauthorised website.

Maybe this sounds too basic but trust me basic is the foundation of anything. Do not download any plugin, theme or any file for your website from any website by just searching it online, you are risking your website security by doing this, most of the people do this and got themselves into the trap. Also, this type of file does a huge impact on your websites SEO performance.

Don’t be greedy and want everything for free. A developer works hard and gives their precious time to develop their theme and plugin. Always use genuine sellers like Theme Forest or any other reputed resellers.

When you want to “download Premium WordPress theme for free”, you have to remember that using a theme or plugin without paying for it – is illegal. You just steal someone’s work and became a “partner in crime”.

Always choose a good Hosting Provider.

A good hosting company always monitors and scans for any harmful content on your hosting account and gives you alert and do appropriate actions to make your account secure.

Choosing the best hosting provider is not a very time consuming because there are many hosting providers are there that are actually very good; like Site ground, A2 Hosting.

I personally use A2 hosting from many years and I am very satisfied with their services. you can f go to their website by clicking below.

Click here if you can’t see the banner.

What to do if you don’t know that your file is safe or not.

If you have already downloaded some files or software and not sure if it safe to use or not, don’t worry I got your back.

Scan the file for Virus and Malware with VirusTotal.

Go to VirusTotal’s website to scan your file online. Locate your file in your computer or laptop and then open a browser.

Go to Virus Total website or search on google. Then upload your file to this website.

Upload your zip file to this website and then website will automatically start the scanning for you and a result page will appear.

If the result page shows no issue as of the above image and all the detection are green then you’re good to go and use your file on your website. Make sure you have purchased that plugin or theme. I’m not saying that if you have downloaded and nulled or illegally available theme or plugin and it comes as undetected that doesn’t mean it’s safe to use because sometimes antivirus programs can not detect some Malware and Trojan because their hash can be changed periodically. So, it’s better to be on the safe side and purchase premium version from their resellers and support the developer.

How does cracked theme and plugin effect website security?

There are countless effects of using untrusted themes and plugins on your website. Mentioned below are the major concerns that everyone must consider before using nulled files and enhance your website security.

They do not work properly.

One of the most common problems of nulled software – it doesn’t work properly and some of the functions are missed. Some elements can be broken or look in a different way. They can break your website and your website will start to give errors. And most of the time you have to reinstall your WordPress and then you have to build your entire website from the start and this is very painful.

No update and support.

If you use these files then you can not update them and if you face any problem then their is no support by the developer of that theme or plugin. You have to do the thing by yourself and spent time on it, and their’s no guarantee that you will fix those issues.

SEO.

When your website is damaged by hacked theme or plugin, it can be used as a platform that leads to low-ranked pages like loading, betting or other questionable websites. This is called black-hat SEO. The consequence of such activity is dropping your search rank. Google will also ask you to rehabilitate your website which is not a simple task.

Solution

The first step you must take is checking the zip file via all possible. There are also special services like VirusTotal.com. If you know PHP, you can try to check the code by yourself but remember, that you can miss some suspicious elements and risk your website security.

The best solution in this situation is downloading free themes and plugins directly from wordpress.org or buy premium. Always remember that the developer spent time and money to launch the product. That’s why downloading cracked version of the product on sale – is stealing.

Always have a backup of your website before installing any theme or plugin so that is anything goes wrong then you can restore it back as it was. Use backup plugins like Updraft Backup Plus, Backup Buddy or All in one WP Migration.

Credits:

Some Images are taken from Pexels & Virustotal,

Some of the text are from the Fruitful code website blog, and I don’t have any rights on those text.

If you have any issue with this article, you can contact me on info@iamakram.com or use the form below.