If you run a business, it’s also highly likely that you maintain a website. Popular CMS tools, such as WordPress, are common back ends for many business websites due to their flexibility and customisability. The biggest problem is that running your website like this can make it vulnerable to hackers. Stories about hackers defacing websites, stealing mailing lists, and generally causing havoc abound, and many sites are an easy target due certain security weaknesses that are all too common.

Affecting Customer Perceptions

Here’s how a hacked website can affect your business:

• Usability: Many hacked sites are damaged in some way, whether it is due to a database being corrupted, or malicious scripts being inserted into code. Your website is the portal through which your potential customers can find out about you and your services, and when your website is hacked it may not be available and may even throw up error messages. The trouble is that your customers may not even know that you’ve been hacked! In this case, they’ll simply browse to your site, see that it is unavailable, and then simply go to someone else!
• Malware: Many hackers insert malware into website code. This can result in unwanted advertisements and pop-up messages being seen by customers browsing your site. They’ll then perceive your business as unprofessional and move on quickly. Furthermore, malware that is undetected can log all of your passwords and corrupt your site to the point that it is no longer usable, costing you both time and money!
• Google rankings: These days, no business can survive without having their site listed high in Google rankings. The higher up your page ranks in popular search engines, the more likely it is that customers will find you. Google has a system for rating the trustworthiness of sites. This protects web users from sites that are full of malware and forms a blacklist. The problem is that if your business website has been hacked, it can be quickly blacklisted by Google’s ever-roaming web crawlers. Once your site is blacklisted by Google, it’s very difficult to fix it and repair your reputation!

Fixing Your Hacked Website the Smart Way

If you find that your precious business website has been hacked, the best way to remedy the situation now and in the future is to contact a company like https://hackrescue.com.au/. Their expertise is in fixing hacked websites, removing nasty malware and malicious scripts, and repairing your Google ranking so that you can get your reputation back on track!

Of course, even though your website will be fixed, who is to say you won’t be hacked again in the future? Security exploits in CMS software like Joomla and WordPress are not uncommon, and if you have been targeted once, it may well happen again. Fortunately, the same companies that can fix your site also offer website hardening and monitoring services. This means that your business website is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week for hacks, intrusions, and failed login attempts. Blocking hacking attempts at the source is the best solution and will provide you peace of mind!