There are a few different ways to find out if your website has been hacked. While security should be a top priority for your web hosting company, there are always situations that can occur that may breach your website security. This is why it is important to learn how to know if your website has been hacked and to routinely check your website to keep your security up to date and protected from outside web attacks from hackers.
Signs That Your Website is Hacked:
Warning that indicates” This site may harm your computer” is often a sign that your website is not considered safe or secure by Google or another search engine that warns against visiting the site. This is one of the most common signs that your website has been hacked and should be worth checking out if you go to search for your website online and this is the result.
Other signs that should show you how to know if your website has been hacked if your website visitors are getting viruses or antivirus alerts when they are browsing through the pages of your website. You may also get a similar warning as the one listed above if this is the case. Another one of the biggest signs that you need to be aware of to learn how to know if your website has been hacked is that you and your website visitors will get redirected to other websites. If your visitors are taken automatically to another website, this is probably because you have been hacked and need to take the necessary security precautions and enact solutions to fix the problem.
If your traffic on your website decreases dramatically and suddenly, this is a good indication that you have been hacked and your visitors are starting realize this by getting the error or warning messages from Google. Your web traffic might also be getting directed due to hacking as well, so if your numbers drop off dramatically, this is most likely the reason why. A huge glaring sign that your website has been hacked is if you see code in your files that you didn’t put there. Beware of these foreign links, photos, text, etc. in case your website has been hacked because this is something that should never just happen on its own.
How to Prevent Hacking on Your Website:
In order to prevent these hacking attacks from happening on your website, you are going to want to ensure you have the best security possible. In addition, to the security that comes with your web hosting company, you are going to want to make sure you are monitoring this security from your website control panel. Make a habit of checking the “Last Login From” box. This will make sure it shows your own IP address and the date of your last login. If this is not correct, it is a good way to learn how to know if your website has been hacked.
You should also check out using the Google WebMaster Central WebMaster Tools. This is a good way to allow Google to notify you if your site gets flagged as containing malicious content or is harmful. This will be emailed to you, so you can check your Gmail to find out if our site has been hacked. Using an additional security measure like Norton, McAfee or something similar will be helpful as well to report the threats toward your website and will be categorized by type. Many types of this software will also be able to tighten the security and ensure your website’s safety and protection. Another way to keep your website safe is to be careful what you are putting on your site. If you are putting on additional features, templates, tools, plugins, etc., you are going to want to make sure it is from a reputable source or website designer. Putting these weak links on your website or webpage is a sure way to get hacked.
When you first login to your own website, check it out to see how it looks from a visitor perspective. This will also allow you to check to see if there is any redirection or warning from the search engine. You will want to engage your up-to-date antivirus program and antispyware software on your own PC, so you can be alerted if your website is now delivering malware. You will also want to use your browser’s View Source feature occasionally to inspect your page’s HTML code or other programming language to make sure there is not foreign content that you did not add. Being aware of the dangers and routinely checking your own website is one of the best ways to learn how to know if your website has been hacked.
