As a website owner, you may have experienced your website being down for any number of reasons. Maybe due to errors in code, server related difficulties or even being under attack from bad actors.
I once shared my own experience of a hacked website in a webinar. Whether you have one site or hundreds, when restoring your online presence it is imperative to have a process in place.
If Your Website Gets Hacked, What is Your Plan?
What if it’s 4 AM and your website is attacked while you’re asleep? Do you have a team of security experts at hand watching your website and loading pages to see if there are indicators of compromise?
Or what if you are taking a family vacation and some bad actors decide to target your website with malicious website redirects and SEO spam?
Maybe you have inserted an infected USB drive into your computer and it compromises your local machine. The moment you log in to your FTP client to push an update to your website, the malware transfers to your /public_html/ folder and starts sending spam emails because one of the malware files is a mailer script.
There are many scenarios for things to go very wrong very fast. Do yourself a favor and ask yourself “What is my response plan in case anything bad happens to my website?”
To use as an example for your own organization, here is our method of handling a hacked site:
Responding to a Hacked Website
Sucuri takes the pressure off of our customers by employing automated and manual steps to intervene in case your website becomes a target for bad actors.
Identify Security Issues
If you think your website may be infected with malware or is behaving in a strange way, you may use our SiteCheck scanner to scan for indicators of compromise. If you’re using our WordPress Security Plugin, you can also inspect the audit logs to see any signs of unusual activity.
Some indicators of compromise will not be visible to an external scanner. You may need to inspect individual files for integrity, or recently modified files to see what changed in the code. However, our security analysts team is designed to do this for you –inspect files for indicators of compromise.
Remediate Security Issues
Our Security Analysts are available to clean hacked websites 24/7/365. You can also try to do it yourself using our free available guides, which will help you step by step.
As always, we’re here if you need help. Our sales team is available to help you guide through our plans and get the one that best suits your needs.
Configure for Continuous Monitoring
Website security is a constantly changing landscape. New methods of attack are always emerging. Our first step is establishing a known good baseline of your website so that we can create a security plan to clean and protect your unique sites. We generate audit reports in your dashboard and alerts so you can stay informed about the health of your site.
Deploy Protection Platform
New malware infections, bots, and scanners are emerging every day. You can combat these by using our protection platform. Our robust firewall safeguards your traffic, visitors, and reputation against the constantly evolving world of cyber threats.
Your Move
Website security is paramount for your online business assets. The best course of action is to evaluate your own needs and your personal balance of risk versus convenience.
Since it is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we would like to invite you to test our Website Security Firewall. You can sign up for a free trial of the Sucuri Firewall to protect your website from hackers. Receive another free month when you chat with our Sales team during the month of October.
We have also started an online contest for U.S. residents, giving away three one-year subscriptions to the Sucuri Firewall. You can participate by submitting your answer to: “Why is Website Security Important?” Contest ends October 31st. Check it out!
If you feel you need to make adjustments to your business’ online security, reach out to us with any questions. We’d be happy to provide help and guidance.
As we are celebrating the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, feel free to follow us on social media under #SucuriNCSAM for more tips and special prizes all throughout October.
Cesar Anjos
Krasimir Konov
Luke Leal
Denis Sinegubko
Art Martori
Rianna MacLeod
Juliana Lewis
Caleb Lane