A hacked website is more than just irritating; it means you’re losing money.

When your site is hacked, potential clients may not reach you. In some cases, a hack can affect your email, too. Then there is the time spent correcting the problem, and, as we know, time is money for small business owners.

That’s exactly what happened to one of our clients from many years ago, NBD Commercial. The company handles commercial real estate mainly for shopping centers. We created a website for them five years ago. Since then the site wasn’t updated or maintained. The site went down recently, along with their email.

Challenges: The hackers had done a thorough a job. We took several steps to secure the site and restore order, but it was too far gone and there wasn't a backup.

Solution: We decided to delete the entire site and start over. While that measure sounds drastic, you might think of it like an old shopping center. In some cases, you renovate to keep what’s there. In others, renovating is far more expensive and time-consuming than creating a new one. Starting over on this website cost the client far less time and money.

Mitigate Your Risk for Hacking

Hacks are frequent. According to “Key findings from the Global State of Information Security® Survey 2017” by PricewaterhouseCoopers, scams and cyber security incidents have increased 38% in the past year. These hackers are not just targeting large companies. Hackers often rely on small websites to gain access to the servers where your website is hosted or to send scams from your email.

Believe it or not, many hacks are automated attempts, brute-force attacks by software created to guess your username and password. If your password is six lowercase letters, this software will crack it in just 10 minutes. (Also, you must change your login name to something other than “admin.”) Read more about Wordpress security and ways to make your Wordpress site more secure.

To reduce your risk of hacking, you must maintain your website. Many business owners create a website and think it’s done. Not true. Like any other, this house you built requires regular upkeep, so it doesn’t fall apart. Check out these signs you need website maintenance.

If Your Website is Hacked

If your website is hacked, contact your website provider or hosting company immediately to get help. Alert people in your address book not to open any suspicious emails from you. Once you have fixed the problem, be sure to take steps to secure your website.

Do you have questions about website security? Contact us for help with your hack.