Web Development | How To Know If Your Website Is Hacked?

Hacking is pretty common in the online world. Websites of almost all caliber and sizes are prone to hacking threats. Be it fortune 500 company or a small local business, no one is safe. Given the growing cybersecurity threats, web development companies are taking various security measures to keep their clients on the safe side.

Yet, 100% security is impossible. Your website will always be at great risk of security breaches.

So, once it does get hacked, how would you know about that?

Well, don’t worry.

Just watch out for the red flags we are going to mention here.

Unfamiliar Content:

“Content is the Queen.”

“The success or failure of a website depends on its content.”

Almost all of us who are related to web app development have heard this or something similar.

And there’s no doubt that it’s absolutely true.

However, another useful which not many know about is that it alerts you about the hacking of your website.

The content of a hacked website often redirects to suspicious links.

This type of attack is called gibberish hack because it fills the content on your site with false information and alters image and product descriptions.

Google Blacklisting Your Website

Its common practice for Google to blacklist websites with suspicious activity and malware. Actually, over 10,000 sites get blacklisted for various reasons each day.

If your site is also one of them, you will get one of the following two options in search results:

• This site maybe hacked
• This site may harm your computer

The purpose of showing these messages is to tell you that Google has detected some type of suspicious activity on your site and you need to sort that out ASAP.

Suspicious User Accounts

Being the admin, you should have a clear idea of what type of users access your website. You should also have a good overview of which user accounts should exist and which ones should not exist.

The biggest give away of a hacked website is strange user accounts.

Sometimes, out of nowhere, it starts attracting strange traffic from unrecognizable locations and user accounts that are unassociated with your business.

Another sign is the change in access protocols. Such as having restricted / limited access or simply being removed from your admin role.

If any of this happens, there’s a huge chance that your website has been hacked.

So, these are some of the symptoms which may tell you that a hacking event has occured. Some other symptoms you might want to look out for are:

• Hosting providers taking website offline
• Unknown redirects
• Integration of nonfamiliar plugins
• Below par performance of the website

What Should You Do to Redeem Your Hacked Website?

There are several steps you can take to get your website back. The two of the most effective ones include:

• Investigation: Thoroughly investigate and assess the factors that might be causing these symptoms. A website doesn’t necessarily have to be hacked in order to show these symptoms. Sometimes, it’s just the poor connectivity that’s causing it all.

• Contact your hosting/web service provider: If you can’t figure out what’s causing the unusual behavior, get in touch with your hosting or web service provider as they can easily give you the insight.

Good luck!