Title: Security: 22 "anonymous" users registered
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# Security: 22 "anonymous" users registered

 *  Resolved [ddas](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ddas/)
 * (@ddas)
 * [12 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-22-anonymous-users-registered/)
 * I’m in the process of building a new WP site (3.8.1, always latest) with a purchased
   commercial theme. The site is live on a server, but in a buried location, so 
   technically publicly available, but no one should find it.
 * I just discovered in the Users tab, there are 22 anonymous users in there, all
   with usernames like _1Ef3487r and _2DL46fFK. None have e-mail addresses. All 
   are user type: “anonymous” (not admins).
 * I’m wondering if this is a potential security hole or not.
 * I am running Jetpack (latest). I haven’t activated JetPack comments, or Akismet,
   or any other spam catchers yet. There are no comments in the Comments area. I
   don’t see any comments on the site (although I could be wrong, because there 
   are a lot of pages).
 * Should I be concerned or are these harmless little things?

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-22-anonymous-users-registered/#post-4672017)
 * > Should I be concerned
 * Yes. You need to start working your way through these resources:
    [http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked](http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked)
   [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/268083#post-1065779](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/268083#post-1065779)
   [http://smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com/2008/06/24/how-to-completely-clean-your-hacked-wordpress-installation/](http://smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com/2008/06/24/how-to-completely-clean-your-hacked-wordpress-installation/)
   [http://ottopress.com/2009/hacked-wordpress-backdoors/](http://ottopress.com/2009/hacked-wordpress-backdoors/)
 * Anything less will probably result in the hacker walking straight back into your
   site again.
 * Additional Resources:
    [Hardening WordPress](http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress)
   [http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/scanner/](http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/scanner/) 
   [http://www.unmaskparasites.com/](http://www.unmaskparasites.com/)
 *  Thread Starter [ddas](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ddas/)
 * (@ddas)
 * [12 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-22-anonymous-users-registered/#post-4672070)
 * Thanks for this — I appreciate it.
 * I have been installing and uninstalling numerous plug-ins (in efforts to get 
   some key features working) so I wonder if one of them was the particular culprit.
 * I’ll follow these links for a good cleaning. Fortunately, the site isn’t finished
   yet, so I have some leeway in replacing files, starting from scratch, etc.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Security: 22 "anonymous" users registered’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [anonymous](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/anonymous/)
 * [users](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/users/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [ddas](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ddas/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-22-anonymous-users-registered/#post-4672070)
 * Status: resolved

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