Losing your WordPress account due to avoidable security lapses is a gut punch that no website owner or developer wants to experience. However, account takeover (ATO) frauds are becoming more rampant.

That’s why cybersecurity experts are creating tools and awareness for the best ATO prevention to keep your site from danger. And with WordPress boasting of powering over 40% of websites, it’s the best place to begin.

What Is Account Takeover Fraud

Account takeover (ATO) fraud involves unauthorized users, usually hackers and cybercriminals, gaining access to web accounts. The aim of such attackers mainly involves financial theft and the acquisition of undeserved benefits.

These account takeovers begin with acquiring account credentials or personal identifiable information, such as social security numbers or banking details, from illegal sources on the dark web or in public domains like Telegram.

How to Prevent ATO Fraud

There are three major steps to take in ATO prevention:

1. Understanding the popular account takeover techniques
2. Identifying common security gaps in your website system
3. Implementing practical ATO prevention solutions

Being well-equipped with all these pieces of information and tools will prevent you from the fast-rising web attack strategy.

Common Account Takeover Techniques

Here are some popular account takeover techniques to keep your eye out for as an administrator of a website:

Phishing

Phishing is the most common method cyberattackers use to steal credentials. They often impersonate trusted sources — like banks, coworkers, or well-known companies — to trick you into revealing personal information.

These attacks have become increasingly convincing, using professional-looking emails, fake websites, and realistic letterheads. Always verify the legitimacy of any message, link, or invitation before sharing any personal details — no matter how urgent or official the request seems.

Malicious Software and Trojan Screens

Taking a cue from phishing, attackers try to tempt you to click links and malware that offer unbelievable benefits such as discounts, rewards, and freebies. Sometimes, there can be an overlaid fake screen or keylogging involved.

Ensure that you do not click on suspicious links. Simple verification of the sender can save you from a malicious attack.

Credential Stuffing

Some cybercriminals use stolen username and password combinations — often obtained from data breaches on unrelated websites — to try to gain access to other accounts. This cyberattack is known as credential stuffing. It is easily preventable by diversifying your passwords and keeping them safe.

5 Common WordPress Security Gaps and Their Fixes

Generally, ATO prevention requires addressing several security gaps that are often overlooked.

1. Weak Password Practices

Your first and major defence is your password. It is important to keep all your passwords strong, unique, and safe. Failing to do so can expose you to credential stuffing or to direct attacks if your WordPress password is compromised.

Here are some good practices to strengthen password security:

• Use complex passwords with good length (10+ characters), mixed cases, and symbols
• Change passwords regularly, especially for administrator accounts
• Consider implementing password expiration policies for all users

Remember, a single compromised password can provide attackers complete access to your WordPress site, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous.

2. Insecure Password Reset Mechanisms

Everyone is familiar with the “Forgot password” link. It may seem harmless, but cyberattackers use this route to access your accounts. This method can be particularly easy because it may redirect to an email that they already have access to or involve a recovery process that doesn’t properly verify the user’s identity.

Ensure that you take control of the recovery process by adding security notifications and security questions or employing vulnerability scanning.

3. Lack of Two-Factor Authentication

Passwords may be the primary security system, but every good cybersecurity expert will tell you to have a backup, and that backup should also have a backup. This is where two-factor authentication (2FA) comes in.

As mentioned before, passwords are the usual targets of schemes such as phishing, keylogging, and credential stuffing. Studies showed that 99% of accounts are secure when they have 2FA enabled. Having a 2FA policy in your organization is the best ATO prevention tactic in case of a password breach.

4. Outdated WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins

One reason why many plugins and themes are updated is the addition of up-to-date security patches. Failure to update the software you use on your site leaves you vulnerable to more modern attacks or leads to compatibility issues that cause security gaps.

To ease updates of software, you can implement these easy strategies:

• Enable automatic updates for WordPress core when possible
• Set a regular schedule (weekly at minimum) to check for and apply theme and plugin updates
• Remove unused themes and plugins completely, rather than just deactivating them

5. Poor User Role Management

A well-managed site requires access to be granted to different experts. This leads to a spread of users, which increases the site’s vulnerability and breach centers.

To curb this vulnerability, it is important to give each user only the necessary access. For example, content writers should only be granted “author roles,” allowing them to write and edit content while restricting their access to the website’s more technical and administrative functions. In addition, audits should be done periodically to delete inactive users.

Keep in mind that security is not a one-time task but an ongoing process requiring regular attention and updates as new threats emerge. Implementing these ATO prevention steps can save you from a potential cyber crisis.