What To Do If You’ve Been Hacked

As a business owner, you know that having a website is equally as important as having a brick and mortar store. In fact, some businesses rely solely on websites. The truth is, just as every building is susceptible to breaking and entering, so is every website. Just as technology is getting more advanced, so are hackers, and it’s more important than ever to stay on top of website security and have a plan if a hacker does get into your site and cause trouble.

Ways to tell if your site has been hacked:

Unfortunately, every website is vulnerable to being attacked by hackers. You may think you’re exempt if you have good security, but hackers love a good challenge. That’s why it’s so important to stay on top of things from your end. It starts with recognizing when your site may be hacked.

• Something looks off – When you’re looking through your website, do you see content that doesn’t belong or doesn’t sound like something you wrote? Does it contain weird links?
• Performance issues – Was a page that originally took a couple of seconds to load taking an exponentially longer time? For example, is your checkout page experiencing major slowdown issues? This could be an indicator something is wrong.
• Errors – Are you experiencing errors when your pages load or errors on your page? When hackers get into a website, it’s possible for them to break the code causing errors.
• Strange plugins – If you have a website, you’re familiar with plugins. A hacker can put files on your website disguised as a plugin. If you notice any obscure plugins, it’s important to take note and investigate further.
• You’ve been blacklisted – One way hackers use a website is by using the website to spam other websites. If this occurs, you have the chance of being blacklisted by email lists and search engines.

How does your site get hacked?

There are many ways someone can hack into a website, some being more obvious than others. Knowing how people get into a website can help you stay on top of your game to protect your site.

• Guessing your password – This is one of the easiest ways to break into a website. Creating easy-to-remember passwords might help you in the short-term but could lead to a big mess later on. It’s important to remember to:
  • Change passwords every 90 days.
  • Use different password for each of your accounts
  • Make sure password has a variation of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols
  • Make your password lengthy. The more intricate the password, the more difficult it is to guess.
  • Keep passwords stored in a safe place.
• Use of malware to get passwords – Hackers can install malware on any computer. Malware can get on your computer by phishing scams, spam emails, and bad websites. Hackers can also put malware on your computer if it’s not protected by a firewall.
• Your software is outdated – This is why it’s so important to keep your website updated and make sure you’re using the most up-to-date software possible.
• Getting into the server you share with other sites – If you’re hosted on a shared server, it is important to make sure you have a legitimate hosting company to avoid this way of being hacked.

What to do if your site has been hacked:

• Don’t panic – As unfortunate as it is, website hacking is not an uncommon experience. And it can be fixed.
• Call us – As soon as you notice something amiss, it’s important to call in your technical support. The sooner you call, the sooner we can find out what is wrong and get the problem fixed.
• Gather any information that would help and be sure to communicate effectively – The more information we have, the easier it is to find the problem.
  • Preserve as much detail as possible about the suspected hack
    • screenshots of affected pages
    • Google notifications or other suspicious-site alerts
    • an estimate of when the problem started
• Make sure you’re doing everything you can to ensure your website’s safety
  • Keep your website up-to-date with plugins, themes, and software updates
  • Choose strong passwords and change passwords regularly
  • Avoid FTP logins to your site from public WiFi
  • Ensure the security of your own PC against keyloggers and other malware by using a good antivirus software

How we can help:

At Old City Web Services, not only do we build and update websites for our clients, but we also provide technical support as well. Our clients’ wellbeing is our top priority, and we are available 24/7 to help. Contact us to learn more about how we can help protect your website and keep your business running smoothly.