Webmaster Safeguards is the creation of a group of webmasters with a noble goal: helping other webmasters to protect their sites from hacker attacks, malicious iframes, phishing, and other malware. Webmasters have a responsibility to support the continuous battle against Internet crime. Although your website already has built-in security features, it can still be molested for various reasons.
Hackers can turn your site into a malicious spybot, infuse your content with malicious links, manipulate or destroy important information… and you might not even realize it. Hackers rely on different techniques that have their counterparts in the form of protective and restorative measures.
Our goal is to increase the awareness of webmasters about hacking attacks and help them protect their sites. We did not create our website for commercial purposes; our only goal is to serve the community of web developers.
Why are hackers interested in your site?
Are you wondering why hackers would be interested in a website that isn’t associated to large transactions and sensitive information? Clearly, dynamic websites are always at a higher risk. However, you will be surprised to know that any site can be a hacker’s target, even if it’s focused on a micro niche and doesn’t attract much traffic. These are only few of the reasons for your website to become a target:
- File and information theft – Hackers commonly attack websites to gain usernames and passwords, and any information about the web server. Once someone obtains this type of information, they can use it to get access to third party systems, as well as billing and merchant accounts. This type of attack would be detrimental to your website’s success, but would also face you with a lawsuit.
- Hijacking – Once a hijacker gains access to your site, he can turn it into gambling, porn, spam, or any other type of destination. Some hijackers leave your website looking as usual, but generate an entirely different view for search engines.
- SEO interest and benefit – The effects of a hacking attack to your website can sometimes be irreversible. You may restore the pages back to their original state, but the consequences associated to your SEO rating will remain permanent once you’re on the black list. This is a clear benefit for competitive websites.
How can hackers attack your website?
Once a hacker identifies your website as a target, he will look for vulnerabilities that can provide access to the files that make up the site. Then, your website can serve malicious files or spam to the visitors. Some of the most common techniques applied include:- Cookie theft,
- Fake wireless access points,
- File location trick known as “relative vs. absolute”,
- File name tricks,
- Bait and switch,
- Waterhole attacks,
- Hosts file redirect, and
- Total loss of control.
An attack to your blog or website won’t only result with nervous visitors, but with decline in your Google rankings as well. The results from all that work and time you invested into building your website’s reputation will be jeopardized. You might not be aware of the attack, but Google will flag your site as malicious and remove it from the results pages. <.p> Your website can also become victim of malware such as:
- Malicious iframes,
- SEO spam,
- Backdoors,
- Phishing,
- Malicious Javascript,
- conditional redirections,
- backdoors, and
- other types of malware on more granular level.
How to solve the problem?
When your website is attacked by hackers or malware, the blame is on you. It is the webmaster’s responsibility to make sure that the site is safe for the visitors. You need to protect your visitors and customers, keep their sensitive information safe and take specific measures to protect the site against attacks.
We can help you with that! All you need to do is submit your problem to us via email, and we will advise you how to solve it. We will provide the needed resources and tips that will enable you to take preventive or restorative measures against hacking attacks and malware.
Due to the great amount of financial and sensitive information that is being transmitted over the web by the minute, hackers are more motivated than ever. It doesn’t matter what type of website you own; every web page can become a vulnerable target. Thus, you need to take measures to protect your site from attacks that would endanger its reputation and rankings on search engine results.
