Want to know if there is a secure use of nulled WordPress themes or nulled WordPress plugins? Are you looking for a way for your site to use pirated software without damaging it?
Null themes and plugins are not prohibited in the WordPress domain, and we’ll describe this in depth in this guide.
So, since it offers you free access to premium functions, we appreciate how enticing it is to use null tech. Null WordPress plugins and themes, however, are also infected by malware.
The danger of hackers getting into your site is incredibly high when you mount them on your site and the consequences are catastrophic. It is much more costly to patch a breach and to recover from the harm incurred by hackers than the expense of the plugin or theme.
But confidentiality is only one of the reasons why nullified WordPress applications should be avoided. We’ll explain in this article why you can keep away from zero themes and plugins, and we’ll show you alternatives that you should use.
TL;DR-
If you have a null WordPress theme or a null WordPress plugin built on your website, automatically check it for malware. To run an immediate and comprehensive scan of your site, you can use our WordPress security plugin. If your site has been compromised by the plugin or theme, it will warn you to take steps to repair it.
What Are Nulled WordPress Themes And Plugins?
You get a licence to use it anytime you buy a WordPress premium theme or plugin. This limits the use of only one website for the theme or plugin. On different pages, you would not be able to instal it. Licenses are used by developers to shield their apps from being bought once and freely distributed to ‘friends and family.’
But in order to do it on different platforms, there are tech-savvy people who find ways to change the app to circumvent the licence. This updated version of the original theme or plugin is considered a pirated, nullified or cracked version.
On some websites, these pirated copies are circulated so anybody can copy them for free. And for them too, there’s a strong demand because it’s free!
Are Nulled Plugins and Themes for WordPress Legal?
Pirated software breaches copyrights and patents and is also criminal, with fines and prison time, and has substantial repercussions. But when it comes to WordPress themes and plugins, there’s a catch.
Under the GPL2 licence, WordPress is an open source programme. This means that every WordPress-built plugin or theme is now GPL2 approved.
Under this licence, anyone can change the file, including plugins and themes, and re-publish it free of charge. So the person who modifies the plugin or theme doesn’t do something wrong, nor does the user use it.
But even so, depending on the laws of the country and the licence terms of the plugin, there is a risk that the developer can sue.
By violating the licence, null themes and plugins are effectively taken from developers at the end of the day.
Yet when it comes to zero WordPress plugins and zero WordPress themes, legality is the least of your issues. When they say that “nothing is free,” it all comes at a cost.
Have you ever asked if anyone would take the time free of charge to build and spread null software? For them, what’s in it?
Why Are WordPress Plugins and Themes Nulled?
Small firms, bloggers, and newbies manage several WordPress pages. They strive to stop paying for themes and plugins, because their budgets are tight. There are also developers of WordPress who build a demo site to get the approval of the customer before they buy the appropriate theme or plugins. This is where there is a spike in demand for null versions of premium themes and plugins.
There’s supply where there is demand, but there’s benefit as well. Most people who pirate apps make or use money from it for nefarious purposes:
1. The most common motive for people to share pirated apps is on their websites to gain ad revenue. Some sites market more illicit goods and sell them.
2. Many individuals who browse pirated copies do not realise that they fear breaking into their site with malware and hackers. So using these ‘free editions’ to dupe users into downloading malware on their pages is easy for hackers.
3. They illegally gather confidential and personal information that is maliciously traded or manipulated later.
Know, it’s free for a cause if a premium theme or plugin is offered for free. We’ll show you that you shouldn’t do it so that you have a better idea of how and why individuals hack premium themes and plugins.
Five reasons why you do NOT use Nulled WordPress Themes or Plugins
Malware can be a strong enough deterrent to discourage null apps from being used. But there are plenty of reasons why it is a bad thing to use null plugins and themes. Here are five major reasons why pirated themes and plugins should be avoided:
Risk Of Security Breaches
There is no certainty that they are safe to use when you download null themes and plugins from random websites. There is no mechanism of confirmation, there are no evaluations or other jurisdiction regulating such software.
Hackers will quickly list their null applications that would have malicious codes or viruses inserted into it, as there are no rules on these pages.
Hackers also create their own websites for the delivery of hacked plugins and themes. The motive is to use these plugins and themes to obtain access to websites.
You can configure the malicious code to do all kinds of stuff, such as:
- Redirect traffic to your website to other places inaccessible to you. This will bring damage to your guests.
- Inject spam SEO. To get their illicit goods ranked, hackers flood the web with spam keywords.
- On your website, build backdoors. It will include a hidden entrance into the web for hackers so that they can come and go as they please.
Among a long list of possible sinister operations, these are only a few things they do. There’s no idea what you have in store with a null theme or addon.
Incompatibility Issues
WordPress actively updates the applications and regularly launches new versions. To ensure they are compliant with the WordPress core, plugins and themes follow suit and update their apps.
It could create compatibility problems if you upgrade WordPress and forget to update the null plugin or theme. Your site can break and crash.
No Updates
As theme and plugin developers upgrade their applications, from time to time, they issue updates. New features, bug fixes and, most significantly, security patches are included in the upgrades.
When an update is available, you can see a WordPress dashboard message like this:
It could create compatibility problems if you upgrade WordPress and forget to update the null plugin or theme. Your website might hurt
You will be removed from the creator should you chose to use a nullified version of a theme or extension. You will not be getting any alerts. But what’s worst is that you won’t be told that there’s an upgrade available.
So, if a flaw is discovered in the app, the scariest thing of all this is that you will not be able to upgrade to the latest release to repair it. But you’re still not going to know that your platform is insecure.
Hackers search the internet for WordPress pages that are using the compromised version until the flaw is announced and the protection fix is released. Since they know what flaw is there, it becomes easy for them to access your web.
Support From The Developer
Generally, without any help or assistance, you can mount plugins and themes on your own. But when you need advice, there are situations.
Premium plugin and theme developers provide assistance in addressing consumer questions and addressing any problems they may face with the apps.
But what happens if you face a null theme or plugin problem that can only be solved by the developer? To say the obvious, you would most likely not be able to contact the developer for assistance.
Discourages Development And Innovation
Many developers build plugins and themes in the WordPress community to relieve WordPress users’ problems. They love making WordPress plugins and themes. They generate some pretty cool items that make the website look and work better.
They aim to appeal to any need and to solve every issue with your WordPress platform that you might potentially face. But this entails a considerable expenditure in time, resources, and commitment.
Contributing to null software’s success discourages developers from making the commitment. Innovation and further development of themes and plugins will be hampered by it.
If there is no allowance for paid plugins and themes, you can look for a free option. To build a beautiful and highly-functional site, many of the free themes and plugins are enough.
There are a few precautions you need to take to ensure that your website stays safe if you do wish to take the gamble and go ahead with a null theme or plugin, (which we highly recommend you don’t).
How To Check If A WordPress Nulled Theme Or Plugin Has Malicious Code?
There are several reasons why you would like to use a nullified version. You may just wish to have it on your platform for a fleeting amount of time and may not want to invest in an annual schedule. Before you decide to buy it, you might want to test the premium edition to see if it suits your needs.
But we’ve already developed that malware can hold nullified copies. So again, we firmly advise that you should not use null tools. If you do want to press ahead, though, here is what we suggest:
- If you have already installed a null version of a theme and plugin on your WordPress account, you need to automatically search for malware.
- We suggest checking it on a staging platform if you have a null version of a theme or plugin that you choose to add on your site. A staging site is a replica of your live site that you can play with and make modifications that do not effect your live site.
Via your hosting account, you will set up a staging platform. In this strategy, since the staging site is typically set up on the same server as the live site, there is a chance of ransomware infecting your WordPress account and your server.
You can also set up a staging platform on a remote server with only one click by using our sister plugin, BlogVault. In under a few minutes, your staging site will be established.
The simplest and most efficient way to execute a scan is to use a WordPress protection plugin while running a malware scan. The WordPress repository has lots of free and premium ones available.
But hackers who null and spread malware are aware that before downloading it, the end user might search it. So they conceal or conceal their malware sneakily. Scanners reveal false positives for malware several times when malware is already installed in the programme.
Then you will need to pick the right one of these available scanners that will be able to reliably detect malware even though it’s concealed or masked. We’ll show you next:
How to choose a good WordPress security scanner
With too many protection plugins out there, finding a suitable one becomes complicated. Not every protection plugin in a null plugin or theme is able to identify all the malicious codes. So what you need to know here is:
- A form called signature or pattern matching scanners is used by many scanners. There are obsolete techniques for malware identification. In this, the scanner runs the coding of the site against a documented malicious code database. It warns you that it has detected malware if it detects a match. This ensures that it will not be identified by the scanner if a programmer uses a new malicious code.
- Only in certain files do certain scanners check for malware and do not search the whole site. Hackers know this, and the scanner will send you a false negative that the null programme is clean of malware, hiding their code outside these particular files.
- Most scanners require a lengthy set-up process and it can take hours to search. Plus, if the scanner exploits the power of your own website, as it performs the search, it will slow down the web.
There is a ransomware scanner for our MalCare plugin that overcomes these obstacles.
- MalCare does not rely only on the matching of patterns. It uses smart signals to detect code behaviour. This causes any malware, new or old, to be detected.
- In just a few minutes, MalCare will search the entire site and its servers. It would also sniff out secret and disguised apps.
- It’s easy to set up and to use. Plus, whether the theme or plugin is corrupted or not, it’s sure to send you the correct results.
- Second, we’re going to teach you how to use the MalCare scanner, so if you want to use a different scanner, the instructions are more or less the same.
How to detect malware in nulled plugins and nulled themes
Setting up and using MalCare, as we described before, is easy:
Phase 1: On your WordPress account, instal the MalCare Protection plugin. The plugin is available in the archive for WordPress as well as on the official website for MalCare.
Phase 2: Second, login and type your email address on the MalCare dashboard. Select ‘Now Safe Place’.
Phase 3: You’ll be guided to MalCare’s separate dashboard by the addon. The search for the malware will run automatically. Usually, running takes only a couple of minutes.
Phase 4: MalCare will show a page with the specifics and findings of your site after the scan is complete.
1. If you have detected malware, the following prompt will be displayed:
You can use the Auto-Clean option to promptly clean up the website immediately. We suggest that you deactivate and uninstall all of the null apps built on your site. You will need to find an option or use the premium edition for authentication.
Note: The elimination of malware is a difficult task which involves technological knowledge. For all plugins, a bonus feature is malware elimination. You will need to switch to a paid package in order to use our malware removal programme.
2. If the null theme or plugin is malware-free, the following prompt should be displayed:
You will continue with the null app installation on your website. However, aside from ransomware, keep in mind the implications. You’re not going to get alerts or help that can make hackers vulnerable to your site.
The negatives far outweigh any pros that it may have. We’re sure that the correct decision (the safer one!) will be made.
Ultimate Thoughts
Your platform and your organisation can be jeopardised by using null WordPress themes and plugins. It’s best to completely ignore them. This is what we’re proposing:
1. There are plenty of free plugins and themes available in the WordPress repository that you can trust. Until being allowed on the website, plugins and themes that are published in the WordPress registry have to follow some requirements and security protocols. So, you can be confident that the app is clean and stable when you download plugins and themes here.
2. In addition, official websites of trusted developers exist. These premium plugins focus on user feedback to further their company and efforts. This websites will promise that their plugin is safe to use.
3. Marketplaces such as CodeCanyon and ThemeForest are often better to use since they verify the plugins and themes thoroughly to ensure the specifications and requirements are followed until they are listed for users to download.
Finally, on your WordPress account, we suggest first triggering a security plugin such as MalCare. This plugin will protect your website proactively against hacking attempts. It will search the site for ransomware and other unusual activities on a daily basis.
You can be assured that your website is protected from hackers and stable.