4 Tips For Recovering Your Hacked Website
No one wants to become a hacking victim, yet criminals attack thousands of websites every day. While you can take steps to prevent an attack, technology is always evolving, and there is no guarantee that your site will stay safe forever, no matter how secure you think it is. Knowing how to react when hackers strike is key to keeping your data, reputation, and finances safe.
Don’t Stress.
Once you discover a hack on your website, you need to act quickly to protect your property and keep your information safe from cybercriminals. The decisions you make early on have the biggest impact on limiting the damage. But if you feel too much stress, you might miss important details. Instead, stay calm and find the best strategies to secure your website and fight back against the hackers.
Planning is the best way to prevent stress. Mapping out your response to an attack, including the possible consequences, will help you keep calm even if your site’s security isn’t enough to stop a hack. Reducing the potential damage from an attack by backing up your data or keeping valuable information off site can also prevent stress.
Get in touch with your hosting provider.
Hosting services often have helpful information, including details about the hack and what steps they are taking to solve the problem. This service can also include confirmation of the crime, as loss of service and other issues can appear to be the results of a cyber attack.
Use a support team.
Hiring outside experts is the best option if you don’t have enough technical expertise on your team. In most cases, you can’t get by with just routine programming knowledge even if you want to. It is particularly useful to hire someone who already knows your site since this can save time when it matters most: right after the attack. Also, make sure they have everything they need, including logins, weblogs, and backups.
Prevent future hacks.
No one wants their website to get hacked, but if you don’t take steps to secure your site, you could be the victim of multiple cyber attacks. If criminals exploited your site’s weaknesses the first time, what’s stopping it happening again and again?
Many web security experts recommend changing your password strategy after a hack. At the first sign of a cyber attack, act quickly by changing all of your passwords. You will need to do this again once your website is clean. Make sure they are long and complicated and don’t use common words. For the best results, use a password generation tool.
Old software doesn’t have the same security as newer versions. If you can, always make sure you are using the current versions of your software. Keep in mind that integrated components, like plugins or widgets, can open your website to attack, especially if you haven’t updated them recently. You should also consider removing any software that won’t get future updates. Make sure you always reinstall the same versions of software; installing different versions could cause your site to crash.
Hackers use email phishing scams to upload malware and get access to websites through passwords and user credentials. But they are easy to avoid if you know the signs. Phishing emails come in many varieties, and learning how to recognize them in all their forms is a crucial step in preventing future hacks.
Running antiviral programs is another smart defense against hacks. Just make sure you are using the latest versions, and remember that you will get what you pay for and even the best antiviral software won’t protect against every cyber attack.
Hacking has become an increasingly dangerous problem as the world’s data and information systems have grown to have a larger role in everyday life. While getting hacked isn’t inevitable, it is a reality that many businesses face. But learning how to protect your website from hacking isn’t hard, and no company should risk its property and reputation by choosing to stay vulnerable.
Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™ services and solutions in how we can help your business.
