EVERY YEAR, HACKING AND ONLINE ATTACKS GET WORSE
Protection from Hackers and Spammers | Hackers and spamming will get worse. Therefore, you need to protect yourself now. On the other hand, if you have not been hacked, you can be sure you will get hacked one day. Therefore, take proactive steps to mitigate hacking and attacks on online websites.
Below are some FAQs about Hacks, Malware, Trojans, and Infections. There are ten fundamental reasons hackers will infect a website or computer network. We will offer some suggestions and common sense proactive steps you can take to protect your assets.
HACKERS BRAGGING RIGHTS
Hackers are close-knit coders who fly under the radar. They are going to hack a website simply because they can. SQL injections via a website contact form penetrate a website’s defenses.
They can upload standard default (home page) files such as default and index combined with a long list of standard Windows file extensions: HTML, ASP, ASPX, and CFM.
A reputable hosting provider quickly remedies these hacks and will clean out these malicious files and set your home or default document file to exclude all other files except the accurate or actual homepage.
PERSONAL VENDETTAS
A personal online attack occurs when someone wants to attack a website or network for personal reasons. Whether you own a small business website or a substantial corporate network such as Sony (Sony suffered a huge DOS or Denial of Service attack in 2014), this kind of attack is highly frustrating to any business.
In most cases, no one knows why they are being attacked. Your hosting company can detect the IP addresses of the computers launching the attack and take steps to block the offending IPs.
In some cases, an attacker will attack a company’s reputation by posting hundreds of negative comments on Blogs and Website directories that allow anonymous postings.
If this happens, do not hesitate to reply with your comments. And be polite. People know the difference between a raving maniac and a reasonable individual. Also, take a moment to read our article, Defending Against Damaging Blogs Targeting You.
POLITICAL STATEMENTS
There are hot spots and unrest globally and at home in the United States. Nothing inflames individuals’ and groups’ passions like ‘politics.’
A person or group will look to take down a website’s homepage or the entire website and replace it with their political message. As previously mentioned, these types of attacks are SQL injections.
Your hosting provider or web admin can clean out the malicious files and set your home or default document file to exclude all other files except the accurate or actual homepage.
HIDDEN ADVERTISING SPAM LINKS
In most cases, an actively hacked or infected website will get flagged by the Google search engine and display a message in your website listing.
Some warnings on Google or your website browser might include: This site may harm your computer, or This website site may contain malware.
In most cases, some code runs on your website that serves up spam thousands of spam pages filled with links to pages with Google Ad codes or other advertising codes that pay the spammer(s) per page view or by clicks on the spam-filled pages.
The spam page advertising business receives millions of dollars each year from reputable advertising companies via the spam pages buried in otherwise legitimate websites whose owners have no clue that their website has been infected.
The best remedy is a complete website restoration from an earlier period. (Hopefully, you do regular backups) Otherwise, you will need a web developer to download your website files and database and perform a local analysis of your website.
Other alternatives include signing up for a 3rd party security/ file cleaning service such as Sucuri.net or Sitelock.com.
GAINING ACCESS TO SENSITIVE INFORMATION
A hacker may access your personal information and logins using a ‘Trojan’ program called a key-logger. This records the keystrokes on your computer.
Other hackers or even nation-states look to penetrate government and corporate networks to gain financial, technical, personal, and additional sensitive information. Unsuspecting persons clicking a website link or email link can cause an infection.
If you suspect that you have been hacked, purchase a strong Anti-virus. I cannot recommend one product over another, but our office computers use Avast Premier and Super Anti Spyware.
MISREPRESENTATION BY MAIL, PHONE, OR ONLINE
Persons might receive a domain renewal notice by mail or online, warning them that their domain name will expire. Persons unaware of this scam will unwittingly transfer their domain name to another company. They are then locking the domain, leaving you no recourse. See: Protecting Your Domain Name.
If you unwittingly fall prey to this scam, contact your original domain registrar and have them lock your domain immediately.
Other scams include the person representing themselves as a Microsoft representative. They inform you that they have detected a virus on your computer. Unwary persons will give them access via an emailed link.
Once you click this link, they will take control of your computer. Next, they deposit a Trojan file so they may return at any time to take control of your machine.
Another scam has a Google representative informing you that your free Google listing has not been activated. Hang up immediately when you get these calls. Google never calls anyone about any Google products.
COMPUTER AND NETWORK ENSLAVED PERSON INFECTIONS
Hackers will infect a computer, network, or browser and use the machine resources and Internet connection for personal, financial, or otherwise illegal activities.
Essentially, the hackers are not after the computer or network files. Instead, they want to use the machine and Internet connection. They hide their activities and make it impossible to trace them with online control. They connect or ‘Hop’ from device to machine or network to network.
Protection from Hackers and Spammers
If you suspect that you have been hacked, purchase a strong Anti-virus. If you have a more extensive network of computers, you should consult your IT representative.
LOCKING OR ENCRYPTING COMPUTER FILES, AKA RANSOMWARE
Ransomware happens to businesses more than you can imagine. Ransomware attacks, aka crypto-locker attacks, happen to both companies and organizations. These include public interest targets such as hospitals, cities, or state government agencies.
Hackers demand a financial payment to unlock their computer files, usually paid in Bitcoin. Private businesses will likely pay the ransom without informing their customers or clients.
Today, IT departments are more adept at defeating encrypted files. But hackers will return to thwart the protection as they detect the fix. (It’s a never-ending battle between hackers and IT engineers.
Protection from Hackers and Spammers
If you suspect Ransomware has infected you, consult your IT representative. Get their help immediately. Don’t try to negotiate with a ransomware hacker on your own.
EMAIL SPAM ZOMBIE ATTACKS
This happens when hackers gain access to your website or computer. They do this to send tens of thousands of emails for the reasons above. If this happens to you where your email resides on a hosting company’s email servers, engineers will shut down your email access until the problem is corrected.
If your hosting company has a lousy reputation for thwarting email attacks, your email domain name may get blocked when sending emails to others. Email spam is a big business. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and hosting companies take spam very seriously. Email spam scams are a multi-billion dollar business.
Protection from Hackers and Spammers
If this happens, obtain an alternate email service to use. An online security service like Sucuri.net or Sitelock.com can help you clean things in less than 24 hours.
HACKERS ARE PERSISTENT; HALF-MEASURES WILL NOT SUFFICE
Once a hacker tastes blood, they will return and return. They cruise the web like predators looking for injured Zebras. They sniff open Internet ports and seek out weak FTP, weak website logins, unprotected or out-of-date server hosting, and websites.
Hackers will poke, probe, and troll persons over social networks and business listings. Sometimes, they contact you with fake emails containing malware links and or pretending to be one of your friends, family, or business associates.
Other times, they send fake ‘Friend’ requests over Facebook; they send you SMS messages with malware links. No amount of protection is too expensive within reason, given your circumstances.
NEVER LET DOWN YOUR GUARD
Security is all about being vigilant about email and computer access.
Keep your computer updated; update your software. Use strong computer anti-virus browser spam blocking and robust passwords on your computer and Wi-Fi.
Protection from Hackers and Spammers
Also, see
Search Engine Marketing Scams
Improving Your Website Security Against Hackers
ABOUT VISIONEFX
VISIONEFX provides services to small business owners throughout the United States. Services include WooCommerce, WordPress, Open Cart, Shopify, Drupal, and Joomla development. Furthermore, we provide expert SEO and web maintenance services.
Please read what our customers have to say about VISIONEFX on Google Reviews.
For more information, call (757) 619-6456 or email info@visionefx.net.
Also, see
HOW DO PEOPLE HACK YOUR WEBSITE?
DEALING WITH EMAIL SPAM
SPAM WARS: FIGHTING EMAIL SPAM
WEB DESIGN IT COMPUTER SERVICES COMPANIES
