I recently discovered that someone was trying to gain entry to my WordPress site. This had been going on for about two weeks. Based on my site’s usage records, the activity was small-scale, and probably perpetrated by an individual, or a small group of individuals who had chosen my site at random. None of the attempts had been successful.
I already had an extensive security plan through my hosting service, but I took yet one more step to lock down Edward Trimnell Books. This was done mostly just for peace of mind, and to stick a thumb in the eye of the cybercrooks.
But what if they had succeeded? Like I said, I have a security/recovery plan through my hosting service. This would have caused me some inconvenience, no doubt, but probably for no more than a day or two.
The more significant question is what these individuals might have had to gain, by hijacking an author website that gets a limited amount of traffic each day. Yes, they might have been able to use my site to distribute malware to a few unlucky souls. But that seems like a lot of effort for minimal gain.
Anyone who is on the Internet realizes (or should realize) that there is an entire underground economy dedicated to hacking into email accounts and websites. I know that once in a while, one of these individuals or groups makes off with a million dollars. In 99.99% of all cases, though, their only result is to cause unnecessary stress for strangers.
What if all that effort and ingenuity were redirected toward productive, socially beneficial ends? I’m not going to suggest that hackers and other cybercriminals are all stupid. On the contrary, some of them must be very clever, indeed. But they’re wasting their talent trying to hack into random WordPress sites.
It has been said that crime doesn’t pay. But it is not only that. Criminal activity that doesn’t pay represents a huge opportunity cost for some otherwise smart and industrious people.
-ET