Loading...Why are websites hacked?
You can hear about website hacking quite frequently but who does it and what’s the purpose of such activities? In most cases pages are hacked by robots that place malware files on the server, send spam messages or alter website content in order to redirect users to another address and obtain sensitive data from them. Hackers stand behind creating such robots - they find some discrepancies in computer systems. For this purpose, they use ready-made tools for penetration testing and security breaches that include exploits for specific software versions with discrepancies. That’s why it’s so important to install all the updates.How to recognize that your site has been hacked?
Every website can be hacked. So how to recognize that your page has been a victim of dishonest Internet activity? It may contain unwanted content, perform unplanned activities or not appear in the search results at all. Often pages are displayed on Google for a long time, however, when robots discover that they’ve been hacked, they display a notification saying that these websites may harm users’ computers in the SERPs. Consequently, many people avoid clicking on such links because they don’t want their computers to break down. Website traffic gets smaller and in the case of online stores, customers stop finalizing transactions. Positions in the search results may also decrease and as you may know, it’s a very important factor. Website hacking can be detected by rendering the site with the use of tools like Google Search Console and analyzing its indexation (type site:domain.com in Google). This will allow you to recognize any content or advertisements published on the page by hackers. A fast-growing site (i.e. the number of subpages in the index) may also indicate that the page has been hacked. So if your store offers 5000 products and suddenly has a few million sites, you should start worrying. However, Google helps in such crisis situations and constantly provides information if the malware code is introduced on the page. Keep in mind that if you don’t get rid of the side effects of the website hacking for a long time, Google may penalize your page and impose a manual filter on it. To learn more, go to Google Search Console. All signs indicating a hacking attack necessitate the quickest possible reaction of website administrators. [caption id="attachment_10607" align="aligncenter" width="631"]
The American Way site where the hacking was detected.[/caption]
Methods to prevent website hacking and sources of website infection
There are many methods to hack a website, however, the most frequent ones include stealing the passwords, not updating software, having errors in the code or using illegal software. If you think that your website doesn’t contain any sensitive data, isn’t attractive for hackers, and consequently doesn’t need any protection, you may be surprised very negatively. Hackers use hosting accounts to attack other network users, therefore, your page is vulnerable to these malicious activities like any other website. Fortunately, you can prevent hacking and simultaneously avoid negative effects that are often problematic to get rid of. First of all, use complicated passwords and change them regularly. Cracking more complex codes is much more difficult than cracking intuitive, dictionary words with names or dates of birth. Avoid “admin” logins and instead of using default login links, create dedicated addresses. If you choose free content management systems such as Joomla or WordPress, you should keep track of updates and possible security issues. Apart from new functionalities and adjustments, updates help to eliminate any problems that may arise. With a single click, you’re able to avoid any negative consequences, that’s why it’s so important to install updates on an ongoing basis. Moreover, you can also benefit from plugins that are frequently available for free, are assigned to specific CMSes, and offer numerous functionalities that additionally increase website security. Wordfence plugin on WP is an exemplary solution that shows suspicious login attempts and allows us to block selected IP addresses. However, remember to download such plugins from trusted sources. It’s also a good idea to automate website backups as this will help you facilitate the process of repairing the page once it’s hacked. Website backups enable restoring the site condition to the state when it was operating normally, that’s why it’s so important to do them regularly. Thanks to it, you won’t lose your page content after a cyberattack.
