A website is considered "hacked" when the sites information or coding is compromised.
This may result in the website performing irregularly, or not working at all.
Hackers gain access to a computer in a vast variety of ways, but when a website is hacked you assume that:
Someone has gained access to the file directory of your web hosting account (usually via FTP - file transfer protocol, SQL injection, etc.)
After gaining access, the hacker will insert malicious code that will achieve some objective.
Some general aims of hackers:
Install malware / viruses on visitor's computers
Redirect customers to another website
Steal data from websites database
Ruin site/site reputation
Unfortunately, there is not a 100% effective way to avoid hacking, but using the following steps can greatly reduce the risks.
Use a strong password: use a password that is not a familiar everyday phrase, or something that can be guessed easily (name of pet).Use a combination of different alphanumeric characters for the most secure combination (A-Z, 0-9, # ! % & )
Regular site scanning: There are a lot of 3rd party programs that regularly scan your website, searching for malicious code or activity.
Up to date software: If you are using a CMS to manage your site (e.g. Wordpress), ensuring software is kept up to date can greatly reduce the risk of infection as new security vulnerabilities are addressed.
Specifically for CMS like wordpress, captcha security is advised for contact forms. Contact forms are very common way for site abuse.
If you think that your website has been hacked, please raise a support ticket from the MySAU portal or call us on 1300 788 862.