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When a website has been hacked, it is a serious matter for any business. Websites can be hacked for a number of reasons—data breaches, financial consequences, reputational damage, or worse.
Hackers exploit a vulnerability to install malware, compromise their website, retrieve their customers’ sensitive data, or redirect a visitor to an insecure or fake site.
In contrast, quick action and a structured recovery process can bring your hacked website back online and improve security. In this guide, we will explore what occurs when a website is hacked, the signs of a hack, and what to do immediately about it, along with some specifics about how to recover.
What Happens When a Website Has Been Hacked?
Loss of Control
When a website is hacked, the first thing that usually occurs is a loss of control. Hackers may have gained access as administrators and locked you out of your website.
That means you cannot even access or modify anything, including restoring data! This would be disruptive to the business world, as it could delay operations and make regaining control complicated without experts on hand.
Defacement
Hackers will essentially “deface” websites by modifying content, images, or the home page of a site to promote offensive messages, political propaganda, or malicious links.
This would damage the credibility of a company or business from a public relations or brand loyalty aspect, with customers or clients probably observing these unauthorized changes and being flagged by operations teams.
Loss of Data
If a website is hacked, attackers may gain access to sensitive data (including usernames and passwords) as well as financial and personal information.
Attackers can use stolen data to impersonate someone through identity theft, financial fraud, or selling it on the dark web. If you suffer a data breach, you may face legal risks or suffer damage to consumer trust.
Dissemination of Malware
Hackers inject malware into your website so they can distribute malware to visitors. When a user accesses your website, their device may become infected with malware, which could lead to compromised security. It may also cause browsers to prohibit access to your website.
Google Blacklisting
Search engines like Google are constantly scanning websites for your security. If your website is distributing malware or performing malicious services, it can become blacklisted.
If blacklisted, when users try to access your website, they will see a warning like “This site may harm your computer,” in addition to losing traffic and credibility.
Indicators that Your Website Has Been Hacked
Unauthorized Changes to Your Website Content
If you notice unsanctioned content changes, then it is likely that your website’s security was breached.
The changes are usually malicious in nature and may consist of ill-intended text, distorted or illegitimate images, or even a defacement of the website homepage for phishing or scamming middlemen.
Your Website Redirects Users to Unfamiliar Domains
After a website has been hijacked, the criminal may link or redirect users to unfamiliar, spammy, or felonious domains without their knowledge.
These illicit markups are usually efforts by criminals to collect user information for identity fraud or are simply levying a type of scam to introduce other fraudulent services.
In short, if your website is even for a brief moment redirected to another website that you know is a malware site, then you may have a serious security breach on your website.
Inability to Access Your Website or Admin Panel
If you are unable to access your website or cannot log in to the admin panel, hackers may have changed your credentials as a means of taking control of your website. This is an unsecured method of access, and if so, the hack of your website needs urgent attention to recover access.
Presence of Unfamiliar User Accounts
If you see new, unauthorized user accounts in your website’s admin panel or the website’s database, this is an indication that an attacker may have created a backdoor access method for ongoing control.
Hackers commonly create hidden user accounts with administrator rights to gain access to your website even after your cleanup efforts are completed.
Unwanted Pop-ups or Ads
If your website suddenly has unwanted pop-ups, banner ads, or links to spam sites, especially advertising fake or illegal products, it means your site has been compromised. These ads can also install malware on your visitors’ computers.
What to Do If Your Website Is Compromised?
If your website was hacked, no matter how small the case is, you should act quickly to get started on fixing your site and the damage. A hacked website can mean stolen data, loss of trust, and loss of revenue.
Whether your site is defaced, malware-infected, or taken over by hackers, getting started with a process that will help you recover your site will help you find the best steps to fixing the problem.
Below are the steps you will want to go through as you fix and secure your website from a hacker:
Step 1: Restore from a Clean Backup
If you regularly back up your website, one of the quickest ways to recover a hacked website is to restore it from a clean backup. Once you have identified a cleaning backup from before the breach, log in to your hosting account and go to the backup section.
If your host’s backup data center (seemingly every hosting does), restore both the WordPress files and the Backup database. There is no backup, and you need to manually clean the website files.
Restoring from a backup should remove all unnecessary or malicious changes, but you will also want to inspect for vulnerabilities that may allow the infiltration again.
Step 2: Change All User Passwords and Access Credentials
Often, after being hacked, a hacker remembers your login and previous credentials. Reset all user credentials for any user (including yourself) associated with your site.
This includes your WordPress site admin panel, user passwords, FTP account, hosting account, database login if applicable, and email accounts. If your website allows users to register an account, consider forcing all users to reset their passwords.
When selecting a password, create strong passwords (for example, a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters). Consider enabling Two Factor Authentication (2FA), which may significantly aid in securing your site.
Step 3: Scan Your Website and Remove Malware
Even though you’ve already restored your site, it’s also important to remove any remaining malware that may still affect your website.
Use malware scanners, either paid or free, such as SiteLock, to scan your site for infected files, malware scripts, and unauthorized changes. Check core CMS files, JavaScript code, database entries, and .htaccess files as well.
If any files or code injections seem suspicious, delete the files or code and replace them with a clean source. Remember that hackers specifically design backdoors to gain future access to a site, so make sure you take the time to deeply scan your website for anything suspicious.
Once you remove all of your malware, be sure to clear the website’s cache so that every visitor can begin seeing the new, clean version of your online content.
Step 4: Reinstall and Update Software, Plugins, and Themes
Old versions of plugins and themes, and an outdated CMS, create a security risk. Hackers are vigilant in using your vulnerabilities with old software to hack into your website.
After you’ve cleaned your website’s files, be sure to update all relevant software to the newest version.
If a plugin or theme has not been updated for a long time (you can see when updates are posted in the changelog), you would be wise to delete that plugin and find a different one that works better and is secure.
Remove any unused plugins or abandoned plugins, as your coding and backwards compatibility make your site more vulnerable.
Keeping your CMS, plugins, and themes up to date is a wise way to close loopholes in your site security and avoid being hacked in the future.
Step 5: Eliminate Hidden Backdoors
Once a hacker has gained access to your website, they usually leave a backdoor in one of your website files so that they can get back in even after you remove the original hack.
Backdoors are often disguised as ordinary PHP files, and they might be hiding in a directory such as /uploads, /wp-content, or /includes. Backdoors might be encoded as Base64, which makes them harder to detect by straining your website’s performance.
You can scan your website with a security scanner to locate potential hidden threats, or you can manually check recently modified files for red flags.
Some red flags for backdoors are: you notice unexpected admin accounts active in your WordPress, you have unknown cron jobs, or your .htaccess was modified with abnormal rules. Removing the backdoors ultimately ensures that the hijacker cannot simply reinfect your website.
Step 6: Send a Security Review Request and Remove Blacklisted Websites
If your website was flagged by Google Safe Browsing, Norton, or McAfee, then simply the act of being flagged could mean the website was blacklisted.
Being blacklisted is a big red flag for losing website visitors and credibility, so sending a security review request for your website is paramount.
If your site was flagged for malicious web activity, visit the page for Google Search Console and navigate to Security Issues. Once you have verified that the issues have been resolved, simply request a security review.
A security review can take a few days until you hear back, but once the request is approved and resolved, the flag will be removed from Google Safe Searches.
If your website is still flagged, then use the SiteLock security scanner for backdoors and hidden threats.
Step 7: Strengthen Website Security Measures
Once you have cleaned your website, it’s essential to establish solid security protocols to prevent an attack. The following steps should be considered in your process:
- Install a WAF: A relatively inexpensive WAF solution, such as SiteLock Security, will help analyze and block harmful web traffic before it arrives at your website.
- Set up HTTPS: If your website hasn’t migrated to an SSL node and encrypted its data, please do so as soon as possible.
- Enable 2FA: Creating an additional verification for every administrator account is another layer of support.
- Limit User Permissions: Not every user needs all privileges on the website. Provide those that are necessary, and remove accounts that are no longer active.
- Monitor the Website: Use some type of real-time security monitor on your website to get ahead of suspicious activity.
How To Prevent Website Attacks?
Understanding website security is crucial to protecting sensitive data, preventing data breaches, and maintaining user trust.
Hackers take advantage of holes in architecture and other vulnerabilities consistently, so site owners need to proactively put strong security measures in place.
Here are six key ways to protect your website against cyberattacks:
Create a WAF (Web Application Firewall)
WAF, or web application firewall, will be used as a buffer between your website and a harmful attack. The product will help block SQL injections, cross-site scripting (XSS), DDoS attacks, and brute-force logins.
Managed WAFs provide real-time protection and monitor potential threats, so you don’t have to do it on your own.
Keep Software, CMS, Plugins, and Themes Updated
Hacker entry points are often related to outdated software. Always update your content management system (CMS) – whether it be WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or similar – along with all plugins, themes, and third-party software whenever an update is made available. Whenever possible, enable automatic updates to avoid outdated software.
Use SSL Encryption (HTTPS)
An SSL certificate encrypts the data traveling between your website and its users. The SSL or HTTPS certificate also protects sensitive information, including logins, personal data, and payment information.
Websites that are HTTPS websites are more secure and trusted by website users and search engines alike. Google ranks HTTPS websites higher than non-HTTPS.
Use Strong Passwords and 2FA
Hacker entry points are commonly associated with weak passwords. All administrator accounts should utilize a complex password that includes both upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters.
A second verification alert, such as an OTP (one-time password) sent by email or another device, is an example of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
Scan For Malware and Vulnerabilities
Running frequent security scans can easily identify malware, vulnerabilities, and unusual behaviors before they cause a significant issue.
SiteLock Security, for example, offers real-time malware scanning, monitoring, and assistance with automated threat removal from websites, while protecting them from damage.
Conclusion
Finding the right SiteLock Security is one of the best overall solutions for malware detection and automated removal, vulnerability scanning, and a Web Application Firewall (WAF), to safeguard your site 24/7.
