Wordpress plugins infected with backdoors
By Joe Elvin
27/06/2011
The world's most popular blogging website, Wordpress, has forced all of its users to change their passwords after three of its plugins were infected with trojans.
Wordpress staff have taken the security measure to ensure that no more of their users have their systems infected with malicious software.
They have also advised those who may have downloaded the three affected plug-ins, AddThis, WPTouch and W3 Total Cache, within the last three days to delete them. The new versions added onto the website should be reinstalled afterwards.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the plug-ins were found to contain backdoors, which allow third parties to gain control over websites and networks without the user knowing.
Many individuals and businesses invest in IT systems management software to help prevent their computers being compromised via backdoor software, however it seems Wordpress hadn't taken this measure.
Sources from Wordpress have announced they were unable to determine how the plug-ins were affected, so as of now there has been nothing done to prevent further hacks into the blogging software.
However, developer Matt Mullenweg has claimed there is no evidence of the website itself being compromised. He added that the hacks have only affected users of Wordpress.org, which is the website used to download the blogging software.
Speaking to Technorati, Mullenweg advised all Wordpress users not to use the same passwords for multiple websites as those that do may be at risk of these sites being hacked into as well.
