Running a WordPress site is exciting, but it also comes with risks. One of the biggest threats is hackers looking for your admin email address. Why? Because your email is a doorway. If they get it, they can try to break in, send fake emails, or take over your site.
In this guide, you’ll learn how hackers find WordPress admin emails, why they want them, and how you can stop it.
What Is Email Mining?
Email mining means digging around to find someone’s email address without permission. Hackers do this to target you with scams, brute-force attacks, or spam. When it comes to WordPress, hackers know where to look. Many websites accidentally reveal email addresses in public code, comment sections, or author pages.
Why Hackers Want Admin Email Addresses
Your admin email is more valuable than you think. Here’s why hackers want it:
- Brute Force Attacks
They might try common passwords for your email and WordPress login; if you use weak credentials, they might break in.
- Phishing
They send fake emails pretending to be from your hosting provider, plugin vendor, or WordPress itself. One wrong click, and they steal your login info.
- Credential Stuffing
If your email and password were leaked in another breach, they use that data to log in to your WordPress site.
- Targeted Spam
Once they have your email, they fill your inbox with fake plugin offers, malware, and other junk.
- Blackmail or Extortion
In rare cases, attackers threaten to leak data or ruin your site unless you pay up.
Standard Methods Hackers Use to Mine Emails from WordPress Sites
Hackers don’t always need special tools. Most of the time, they use simple tricks to get your email address. Let’s explore the common ones.
1. View Source and Scraping HTML
Anyone can right-click your site and choose “View Page Source.” If your email is hardcoded in your footer, header, or contact form, it will appear.
Example:
<p>Email us at: [email protected]</p>
This makes it easy for bots to scrape and collect.
2. Author Archives and REST API Exposure
WordPress creates author archives automatically. These URLs look like this:
yourdomain.com/author/admin
Hackers visit these pages to grab your author username. Then they use the WordPress REST API to get more info.
Example REST URL: https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/wp/v2/users
This often returns your admin username, display name, and email address if your theme or plugin exposes it.
3. Comment Metadata and Gravatar
When admins reply to comments, WordPress stores the comment author’s email (even if it’s hidden on the front end).
Also, if you use Gravatar, hackers can create a hash of standard emails and try to match it to your Gravatar image. If they get a match, they confirm your email.
4. Plugin or Theme Vulnerabilities
Poorly-coded plugins or themes sometimes expose email addresses through debugging tools, error messages, or hidden form fields.
Example: A support form plugin might log email addresses in a visible HTML field by mistake.
5. WHOIS Lookup
Hackers can search the domain records and find the admin contact email if your domain name does not use WHOIS privacy.
Tool: https://whois.domaintools.com
6. Third-Party Tools or Data Leaks
Hackers often scan public data leaks from past hacks. If your email was used on another hacked site, they can reuse it.
Tool: https://haveibeenpwned.com
They also use search engines like Google with queries like:
site:yourdomain.com intext:@
This searches for any visible email on your site.
Actual Examples of Email Leaks
- A WordPress site had the email hardcoded in the header.php file. Bots scraped it within days.
- A poorly coded membership plugin exposed all user emails via a simple URL.
- A user left a comment using their admin email. Hackers scraped the comments and added the email to spam lists.
How to Check If Your WordPress Email Is Exposed
Here are ways to check if your site reveals your email:
- Search your site’s source code
- Open your homepage, right-click, and select “View Page Source.”
- Press Ctrl + F and search for @
- Check REST API Output
- Visit: https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/wp/v2/users
- Run a WHOIS check
- Use any WHOIS lookup tool and see if your email is listed
- Use Google
- Run: site:yourdomain.com intext:@
- Use an email exposure tool
How to Protect Your WordPress Admin Email Address
Now that you know how hackers mine emails, let’s stop them. Follow these steps to secure your admin email:
- Use Generic Emails for Public Use
Don’t use your admin email on your contact forms or support pages. Create a new public-facing email like:
Keep your admin email private. Use it only for WordPress login and admin alerts.
- Remove Author Archives and REST API Exposure
You can disable author archive pages and limit REST API data.
Use a plugin like:
Disable REST API
Perfmatters
WP Hardening
Or add this to your functions.php to block user REST endpoints:
add_filter( ‘rest_endpoints’, function( $endpoints ) {
if ( isset( $endpoints[‘/wp/v2/users’] ) ) {
unset( $endpoints[‘/wp/v2/users’] );
}
return $endpoints;
});
- Mask Emails Using Plugins or JavaScript
You can hide emails from bots by using JavaScript or email cloaking plugins.
Plugins to try:
Email Address Encoder
Obfuscate Email
These plugins convert your email into a format bots can’t read.
- Obfuscate Comment and Author Metadata
Use a plugin to hide the author’s email data in comments. Also, avoid using your admin email when replying to public comments.
You can also create a separate user account just to reply to comments.
- Update Themes and Plugins
Outdated plugins and themes often leak data. Always:
Update regularly
Delete unused plugins
Only use plugins from trusted developers
- Disable Directory Listings
If your server allows file browsing, hackers can find sensitive files.
To disable this, add this line to your .htaccess file:
Options -Indexes
This blocks users from seeing folder contents.
Best Plugins to Hide or Obfuscate Emails
Here are plugins that help hide email addresses:
Email Address Encoder
- Hides all emails automatically
- Easy to use, no settings required
WP Hardening
- Disables REST API exposure
- Blocks author archive discovery
- Secures other sensitive areas
Perfmatters
- Lightweight plugin
- Disables unused WordPress features
- Helps you turn off author archives and REST API
How to Monitor for Email Exposure or Breach
Keep an eye on whether your email gets exposed.
Use These Tools:
- https://haveibeenpwned.com Check if your email has been in a public data breach.
- Google Alerts: Set an alert for your email or domain to track exposure online.
- Security Plugins Use plugins like Wordfence or iThemes Security to log suspicious activity and email leaks.
Conclusion
Hackers want your admin email because it helps them break into your WordPress site. They use simple tricks to find it, like checking your source code or using the REST API. You can stop them by hiding or masking your email, disabling certain features, and using the right plugins.