An essential part of getting the word out about your small business is having a functional and appealing website. Once you have a website in place, one of your main goals should be keeping it out of the hands of hackers.
Did you realize that over 43 percent of the hacks perpetrated each year target small businesses? Failing to take preventative measures to properly secure your website servers can lead to a number of disastrous situations.
One of the first things you need to do when trying to secure your website servers is to invest in configuration monitoring software. With this software, you can easily detect changes made on your servers in a hurry. The longer it takes you to find these changes, the harder you will find it to take your website back from cyber-criminals.
The following are some of the warning signs you may notice when your website has been infiltrated by hackers.
1. Internet Browsers Showing Visitor Warning Messages About Your Site
Are you getting reports from customers about warning messages being given when they try to access your website? If so, this may be an indication that your site has been hacked.
Generally, the warning messages given by an internet browser will indicate that your site has been blacklisted by search engines like Google. In some instances, Google will send you a message via their search console when they suspect your site has been compromised. Neglecting to take these warnings seriously can lead to all of the data on your website being wiped out by cyber-criminals.
2. Your Hosting Company Has Disabled Your Website
If you pay for web hosting, you may notice that your hosting provider has disabled your site if they feel it has been hacked. The main reason hosting providers do this is to keep the viruses on your site from spreading on their servers.
The detection of malware code, high CPU usage and the sending of spam emails are just some of the reasons why your website may be taken offline. Failing to monitor the activity on your website is a recipe for disaster. Adequately monitoring things like server configurations and suspicious activity can keep you one step ahead of cyber-criminals.
3. Odd Looking JavaScript in Your Website's Code
Have you started to notice odd or cryptic looking JavaScript in your website's source code? In most cases, this code will be used by hackers to do things like steal passwords or other sensitive information.
In some instances, this cryptic code will be used to redirect visitors from your website to malicious pop-ups and advertisements. If you are not familiar with how to check your site's source code, consulting with an experienced computer programmer is a must. They will be able to inspect and detect any problems that may exist.
4. Problems With Slow Loading Pages and Error Messages
The modern consumer has a notoriously short attention span. If your website takes too long to load, it will probably result in visitors leaving in a hurry.
When your website starts to get slow and generates error messages on a regular basis, it can be due to a virus. The malware programs used by hackers will slow a website down and will eventually make it crash. As soon as you start to notice this problem, you need to work on getting the virus causing the issues removed.
Keeping your website functional and reliable will require a lot of hard work. This is why hiring an IT professional to assist you is vital.
5. Google Search Results Flag Your site as Hacked or Harmful
If you or one in every of your site guests notice the subsequent error within the search results, it's probably been hacked.
Google typically removes such hacked sites from search results. It flags with a message that "This site is also hacked" or "This site could damage your computer". After you click through to the website, the chrome browser can give warning. A different browser user might receive no warning, that is why the warning is additionally enclosed within the search results.
"This website is also hacked" implies that Google detected one thing out of the standard on your site, like uncommon changes to existing pages or adding new ones with SEO spam or redirects.
"This website could damage your computer" implies that Google has detected malware on the location and if you visit the location, you are doing at your own risk and you may see the Google malware warning that the location is presently unsafe.
6. Google's Search Console Alerts you to Malware on Your site
If you run an internet site you should create an account on Google Search Console if you haven't got one already. It'll provide you warnings after indexing your site and can give you stats showing your site visits via search.
Search Console will email you alerts regarding your site if it detects that your site is infected with malware. Move to "Search Console Preferences" and alter email alerts there. This can send messages you instantly once Google detects malware on your website and you'll be able to fix them before they begin displaying warnings.
If you're signed-in to look Console, visit the "Security Issues" panel and if you see a warning, it indicates that your website is infected.
7. Your Malware Scanner Alerts you to an Infection or Hack
If you're using victimization Wordfence or another malware scanner, you'll receive an alert that you just are infected. This is one of the fastest method to detect the unauthorized activity and virus injection.
You will sometimes receive this alerts via emails, therefore it's vital to stay an in-depth eye on alerts from your websites. Don't develop a blind-spot as a result you receive several alerts. You must regulate that alerts.
These are the signs which you should not take lightly. They can harm your entire site/blog. Whenever you see them, take quick action to save your hard work.
