According to a Forbes.com article, roughly 30,000 websites are hacked every day. Hackers target both small and large websites alike – no personal blog or small business website is safe. Wherever hackers see a vulnerability, they will capitalize on it and deploy their malevolent code. But what’s the motive of these cyber criminals? Cyber-attacks are usually financially motivated, but not always. As follows are the top reasons websites get hacked.
Spamming purposes
One of the main reasons hackers take over websites is so that they can use these sites to send out spam mail. Here’s how it works: Some web agency offers to send out your marketing emails to 500,000 accounts for only $10! But how can they do it for such a low price? Well, they have hacked into thousands of vulnerable sites and installed a small script in them. They then use this script to send a request to all of their infected computers/websites (which together form something called a “botnet”) that has those infected sites send out emails. As a result, the “marketing agency” gets your money … and the infected websites might get suspended or banned for sending spam.
Phishing
You’ve probably heard of phishing and have been warned against it when it comes to protecting your personal accounts. You know to look out for emails and fake sites that try to get you to give up your login or banking information. However, hackers can also overtake your own website and use it for phishing purposes. In this scenario, the hacker places a fake login page on your site. Often this will be a fake Facebook or fake bank login page. When visitors enter their credentials, their login info is sent to the hacker so they can later access these accounts.
Just to show off!
Not all hackings are financially motivated; some hackers just want to show off. These attention-starved hackers primarily just want recognition for their hacking skills. Typically, these hackers will either delete a page from your site or they will change your login page. Most of the time, they will replace the deleted information with a banner saying, “Your site got hacked by ….”
Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect your site from hackers and their nefarious motives. Don’t be easy prey for hackers – Be proactive and use a solution like SiteLock to keep internet criminals and malware away from your site.
Need help cleaning a hacked website, get in touch with us.
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