There are an average of 30,000 websites hacked daily! Hackers use automated tools to find vulnerabilities to exploit. Their tools can:
- Guess easy website login credentials
- Hack in through another website on the same server (shared server)
- Detect bugs and vulnerabilities within website plugins, themes, and extensions
Signs of a Hack
Often, hackers gain access to a website without being noticed and by the time they have achieved their goal, it is too late.
Signs of a website hack vary depending on the type of hack, the hacker’s agenda and how vulnerable the website is. Some tell-tale signs could include:
- A defaced website
- Popups
- Redirection to other websites
- Google and Bing alerts in search results
- Webpages loading very slow
- Unable to log in to your website
- More traffic to your website from other countries where you are not focussed
- Weird code injections in pages
- Strange activities on your website
Of course, there are loads more characteristics to identify a hacked website rather than focus on them, lets focus on prevention and what to do if you get hacked.
Prevention
Ideally, it is best to prevent a website hack. A website is where your customers can get to know your business so their experience on your website is vital. If your website gets hacked, it will provide them with a bad experience, possibly leak their personally identifiable information and even affect their devices!
The best method of prevention is regularly website maintenance. The following tasks are performed as part of KeyTech’s website maintenance to prevent website vulnerabilities:
- A Full Website and Database backup, stored in a separate and secure location
- Security & Malware Scans
- Platform, Theme, Plugin & Extension Updates
- Web Server updates
- Secure your website with HTTPS with an SSL certificate
In addition to website maintenance, ensure that your web hosting has security features such as:
- DDOS Protection
- Fortinet firewall
- 24/7 Malware scanning
- an encrypted network.
Just like your hosting, your website should have a reputable firewall and security scanner installed to provide another wall of defence against threats.
Creating and storing complex passwords for user logins will also assist in a more secure website. There are some great free password managers available to help with generating and storing complex passwords.
What to Do If Your Website Is Hacked
If your website has been compromised, you must act quickly to prevent further damage. Spread awareness about the incident. Inform other businesses and your clients of the situation you are facing and the problems that might occur as a result.
If your website collects personally identifiable information, you must notify those involved about the breach, as per the Australian Privacy Act 1988.
Contact your webmaster so they can either regain access to your website or restore your website from a recent backup. They will reset user accounts, run an in-depth security scan, and implement additional security and/or security procedures to avoid another hack from recurring.
With an attack every 39 seconds, the statistics are frightening! A successful hack can not only cost businesses time and money, but it can also damage a business’s reputation.
If you want to learn more about this topic or chat with us about our website maintenance services, please reach out to us at your earliest convenience.