OMG!! My Website is Hacked!!!

One fine morning as you type your website URL, you suddenly realise your website is not there. You freeze; “Oh My God, where is my website!” Picking up your mobile you fumble to TROPPUS. “Hello … TROPPUS?” “My website is gone!! Can you do something?”

At TROPPUS we often get calls like this, so we thought it is best to educate our customers on tips to keep their website(s) safe and secure.

A. Make all your website Passwords Strong especially for the Control Panel and FTP:
The easiest way any hacker can get access to your website is by “guessing” your password. Keeping a strong password is the first step and extremely crucial in protecting your website. A password with characters in Uppercase, Lower case, numbers and symbols is not easy to remember or guess and is one hell of a strong password. The longer the password, the better. We recommend you to change your password every 3 to 4 months.

B. Virus, Malware and Trojan scanner :
If your computer is infected by a virus, malware or Trojan, your passwords can be easily stolen. Installing a professional antivirus would be beneficial and prove useful.

C. Regular Maintenance of your website:
Maintenance of websites would ensure that your passwords are regularly overhauled. Besides, all your links would be checked and all the scripts would be kept upto date. If you are using CMS websites, avoid using random scripts. Always check back with your service provider before using a software patch or new script. Take a backup of your website frequently. Keep the files on your PC or a USB Key or an External Hard Drive, it can save you from some major headache.

D. Multiple Domain Names & Hosting:
It is a common trend to book domain names with different extensions like troppusweb.com, troppusweb.net, troppusweb.org etc. But only one domain, usually with the .COM extention, that would be having the hosting. The other two are pointed to this. Instead, try having a different hosting for the other two also, with different cPanels. And host your website on these also. This way even if the hacker hacks one website, the other two are safe. This is a costly solution, but there are a lot of security risks when you put all the hosting on one plan.

E. Secure Your File and Folder Permissions (CHMOD):
This is a little technical. Most scripts wants you to set the Read/Write/Execute permissions on; on all files and or folders. (Linux geek would understand this as 777). This is NOT safe as it would allow users to have full access to that folder and file. It would always safe to use only the Read / Execute permissions (755 or 644). Your script should still operate without any issues at all.

No one can guarantee that your website is hacker free. Least of all your hosting provider. Web hosting companies are not responsible for your website being hacked. You are responsible to keep your passwords secure and safe. Being proactive, having a good website maintenance team are best way to ensure a safe website on the internet.

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