Have I Been Hacked?
What to Do if Your Website Has Been Hacked?
Having your site hacked is deeply upsetting as well as frustrating. It is a horrible invasion of your privacy. It is also a threat to all of the hard work that you've put into building your site.
If you're wondering, "Have I been hacked?" you have no time to waste in finding effective ways to get control of your website again. If you haven't been hacked, it is essential that you put preventative measures in place.
How to Know if You are Hacked
- Website is blacklisted. A blacklisted site is one of the most obvious indications that your site is no longer in your control. If you haven’t done anything worthy of blacklisting but your site is blacklisted by Google, Bing, and other search engines, you have probably been hacked.
- Readers or host complain. Your readers tell you that their anti-virus software is flagging your site or your host disables your site. If you're getting some complaints but aren't sure, don't be afraid to ask your readers, "Have I been hacked?"
- Strange behavior. You may see that your website is doing things that you didn’t authorize or you may be told that your website is attacking other sites. You may even be able to see that your site has been hacked when you open it in a browser.
- Subtle clues. Don't assume that a hacker will be obvious. Many hackers are motivated to operate under your radar. If there are even very slight warning signs, it's essential to check for hackers.
Oh No, You've Been Hacked!
If you suspect that you have been hacked, stay calm. If you panic and take fast actions without thorough consideration, you may make the problem worse. It's terrifying to suddenly find yourself a victim, at the mercy of whoever attacked your website.
However, all is not lost. You may lose some money or credibility as a result of being hacked, but you can recover. Here is what you should do if your website has been hacked.
1. Communicate with your hosting provider
Ask your hosting provider first, "Have I been hacked?" Your hosting provider may also be affected by the hack and may be taking steps to find out what's wrong. Talking to them can save you a lot of investigative work in finding out what's going wrong.
There is also a possibility that the problems you are encountering are due to a lack of service instead of a hack. Your hosting provider can tell you that as well. This is one of the times when you'll be very glad that you chose a great website hosting company that is dedicated to protecting your site. If your provider doesn't have good answers for you, it may be time to reconsider hosting.
2. Document recent activity
You may quickly forget just what happened to make you realize that you've been hacked. Take time to document what happened and what clues you have. Write down any error messages and what time everything has occurred.
Try to remember what you've done recently. Did you change a theme or install a new plugin? Perhaps you gave your information to a new website. Take note of everything that you've done so that you can trace your steps and find when the virus may have taken hold.
3. Scan your site and environment
Application-based scanners are plugins that are quite easy to use while remote base scanners thoroughly crawl your website. Both types of scanners find different sorts of things, so it's not a bad idea to use both if possible.
There's also a decent chance that the virus started in your local space. Run scans on your desktop or laptop. Consider running different anti-virus software. Your current software may be good, but some viruses are made to hide from specific software, so running a different test is a great idea.
4. Recover from Blacklist
When your website is hacked, authorities flag your website and blacklist it in a number of ways. Email blacklist authorities will flag the email associated with the server that is infected.
Google blacklists put warnings on your site from Splash Pages telling people to stay away to pop up warnings in search engine results. Other search engines like Bing and Yahoo also can blacklist your site. Individual user desktop anti-viruses can flag your site as well. Register your site with online webmaster consoles like Google search console to begin to undo the damage.
5. Reset access
Lock down your website so that the virus or hacker won't be able to make any additional changes. Force a password reset for all users, including administrators, using a plugin. Clear all users on your site and force anyone that is on it to log off.
6. Backup
You should definitely have an up-to-date backup of your website, but if you don't, this is a good time to create one. Your host may have a system to help you back up your site or use an external system. Even if you have a backup, it's wise to take another image of your website before moving on to the next step. This copy will serve as a reference as you rebuild your site after cleaning.
7. Get rid of the hack
How you eliminate the virus depends on your preferences, skill-set, the type of infection, who your host is, etc and if you do it yourself it can definitely take come investigative work.
Some hosts offer lots of help in removing viruses, While others are less helpful. When the answer to the question, "Have I been hacked?" is a firm YES, next are some basic tips to help you get rid of the virus.
WordPress hacked website
WordPress is known for being easier to use than many other site builders, so are the solutions for a WordPress hacked website better? In many ways, yes, but success still depends on your host.
WordPress has integrated plugins and lots of tutorials to help you take care of the problem. You can find a free WordPress plugin in the WordPress plugin repository to scan your site. You can even scan multiple WordPress sites on the same server using one of these tools. This is a good idea if you have multiple sites since contamination across sites is common.
There are also plugins available to check for the integrity of your WordPress files. Manually check other files that have been recently modified in WordPress to ensure that there are no unfamiliar modifications that may represent a virus. If you run into trouble and can't find a tutorial to help you, contact your WordPress host for help.
Godaddy hacked website
Some users complain that GoDaddy doesn't have much in the way of hack services or help. With GoDaddy's chunky interface, you may have a hard time even realizing what's wrong until an external source notifies you.
GoDaddy does offer some advice to help you rid your website of viruses, but it leaves you on your own to make those fixes happen. While GoDaddy meets WordPress minimum requirements for hosting, they aren't one of the most recommended hosts by WordPress.
Rather, WordPress prefers house like Bluehost, SiteGround, and DreamHost. These hosts may be more proactive in helping you get rid of a hack. SiteGround even advertisers that they proactively protect your WordPress site from hacks.
Protect Yourself from Getting Hacked..Again
Once you find and eliminate the virus on your website, your goal will be to keep it from happening again while you take steps to recover from the damage.
- Strengthen passwords. There are a lot of silly mistakes that new website owners make, and one of them is weak passwords. Your passwords should be as strong as possible and updated regularly. It's not a bad idea to consider auto-generation software for this.
- Put into place a second authentication system. Don't trust your passwords, however strong, with the integrity of your website. Put into place a second form of authentication when you log into your website. This can easily be done with a plugin.
- Improve hosting. Your host has a lot to do with whether you get hacked or not. Web servers using a vulnerable version of PHP maybe accessible by remote code from hackers. If your host is using this version of PHP, it is essential to update to a non vulnerable version immediately. Consider using a host that will proactively protect your site from hackers.
- Back up. It can't be emphasized enough that regularly backing up your site is the best way to ensure that no hack can do significant damage. Even if you have to clear your site completely, you can rebuild it from a backup.
- Be vigilant. Use multiple virus scanners, especially if you have already been infected in the past. Don't just rely on your scanners. Continuously check your site yourself to make sure that everything is working as it should be and nothing looks suspicious.
- Rely on a website manager. Sometimes it can be too hard to maintain your website as you should. The consequences of being hacked are severe, so it is well worth the investment in a professional to protect your site. It matters to have a local professional with whom you can develop a personal relationship to manage your website SEO. In the same way, it also helps to choose a local professional for website management and virus protection.
Trust Perfectly Optimized to Protect Your Website
If you don't feel confident that you can protect your website from hacking and never want to ask: “Have I been hacked?” again, consider turning to a professional like Perfectly Optimized. We have the experience and data-based understanding to design and protect highly effective websites. We'll take the time to sit down with you and talk about your goals and concerns every step of the way.