What is the worst experience you had running a wordpress website?

[wpninjatechs]

I experienced a time when my site started getting traffic and suddenly it got hacked. It was so frustrating and after cleaning it. It was tagged as a malicious site on google and I had a hard time getting back that traffic. I've learned a lesson to maintain my site properly and always backup my files!

If you have any nightmares or bad experiences with a WordPress site, kindly share it

 

[Deleted member 601870]

Yes, the First mistake everyone does is " nulled theme" or "nulled plugin"
Wp is widely used cms. so, no #1 hackers target.
Other issues -
- Slow site ( probably because we have lots of codes/ files/plugins which we don't use. still, they use server resources.)
- One small mistake in code ( even a syntax error) and site is offline.
-------
Few tips:
1) Always keep the latest backup.
2)Always monitor your site.

 

[wpninjatechs]

Yes, the First mistake everyone does is " nulled theme" or "nulled plugin"
Wp is widely used cms. so, no #1 hackers target.
Other issues -
- Slow site ( probably because we have lots of codes/ files/plugins which we don't use. still, they use server resources.)
- One small mistake in code ( even a syntax error) and site is offline.
-------
Few tips:
1) Always keep the latest backup.
2)Always monitor your site.

Yes, that is so true. I initially started using a "nulled theme" for being a cheapskate and it cost me a huge setback. Thanks a lot for your tips

 

[back2basics]

Some old obsolete version of wordpress was on my server for an old unused subdomain we totally forgot about, and they some how got into our server through it. We went through every plugin every line of code on our site and we couldn't find how they kept altering files. we paid a site security specialist $300 an hour to figure it out.

It can be a very very expensive problem, especially when your site is thriving. ALWAYS keep your shit up to date, new holes are always being found and it is super easy for people to scan your site for what plugins are installed.

 

[wpninjatechs]

we paid a site security specialist $300 an hour to figure it out.

What did the specialist do to fix the issue?

 

[back2basics]

i think he ran a scan through a shit ton of server logs to find shady activity, but honestly not quite sure what all he did. He found the problem and removed the holes, added extra security that worked outside of wordpress. It solved the problem and that was good enough for me.

 

[davids355]

I had a similar situation recently but where my site got hacked over and over again - like about 5 times.

Each time I took a slightly more aggressive approach with the last time being that I deleted the entire site, fully rebuild wordpress from scratch, choose all new plugins and themes and then imported content only using xml backups and changing passwords of course.

Even after that, it got hacked again!! I couldn't beleive it. So after that I moved the domain to a new host, and since then its been fine.

Have had sitiations in the past as well where I have had 10+ sites on a shared host and they have all been infected at the same time, that was a nightmare as well. Since then I always keep my sites on separate hosts or on reseller hosting - so they are completely segregated from eachother.

 

[Deleted member 601870]

I had a similar situation recently but where my site got hacked over and over again - like about 5 times.

Each time I took a slightly more aggressive approach with the last time being that I deleted the entire site, fully rebuild wordpress from scratch, choose all new plugins and themes and then imported content only using xml backups and changing passwords of course.

Even after that, it got hacked again!! I couldn't beleive it. So after that I moved the domain to a new host, and since then its been fine.

Have had sitiations in the past as well where I have had 10+ sites on a shared host and they have all been infected at the same time, that was a nightmare as well. Since then I always keep my sites on separate hosts or on reseller hosting - so they are completely segregated from eachother.

This is probably server-side attack. ( happens on cheap hosting due to outdated PHP , outdated server os etc. )
Recently my friend had similar issue. ( free hosting)

 

[wpninjatechs]

Oh my.. it's a pain also from choosing a good hosting really. Specially for starters who don't have budget yet or doesn't have any knowledge about choosing a reliable and sage hosting service.

 

[madahason2]

2 years ago when i was learning to code wp, i edited a page live and messed up the code but did not have a backup. It was a newbie thing and i paid for it.lol

 

[Jakinollo]

My worst experience as a programmer was using wp.