If you haven’t realized it yet, let’s break it down for you gently: the online world is truly ruled by a select few: the hackers. No matter how much you may put into protecting your website, there will always be someone who will be able to get around the “defensive obstacles” you may have put in place. It could be your own government, a branch of its services or an online activist group that has debts to settle with you; admittedly, it is true that the chances of being targeted by any one of these entities is, of course, pretty slim – you would have to give them probable cause to become their target.

What you should be worried about is the everyday run-of-the-mill hacker whose sole reason for targeting your ecommerce site is purely malicious intent or any sort of financial gain.

And then of course, in case you have any disgruntled employees (even the ones you’ve let go) you may want to sleep with one eye open.

Although the best of hackers can be in and out of your site without your noticing it, not all of them are as good at what they do as they would like to think. You will therefore have some telltale signs that will warn you when someone is in your system.

Below are some of these signs you should look out for:

Password Changes and Requests

One way social media and email websites make sure passwords are being changed by the real owners of the accounts is by sending confirmation emails to them. If you receive emails asking you to confirm password changes when you haven’t asked for it, then you can rest assured someone is trying to do it (change your password) for you.

If, by any chance, they do succeed, you might find yourself locked out of your own accounts and unable to administer your site.

Search Engine Warnings

Google keeps track of websites to make sure they don’t run malicious ware that could harm visitors. If you use their Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools), you can keep track of your site’s performance while also being kept in the loop when your site is flagged for being compromised or infected with a virus. If you get flagged, you can be sure your site has been compromised and malware has been implanted into it.

Defacement

If your website’s content is altered in any way, then it is a sure sign you have been hacked.

Hijacked Email Account

If your clients (who have saved their email addresses on your site) start receiving emails from you – when you haven’t sent them out – then you can rest assured your email address has been taken over by someone who’s sending messages out (usually with malicious attachments or links included) on your behalf.

Hijacked / Rerouted URL

If visitors to your website are redirected to another site, then you have been hacked. The hackers drive your visitors to their sites either for the sake of making use of your traffic and visitors or to lure them into getting them infected with viruses and malware.

Strange Code, Files or Folders

Hackers create files and folders on your server so they can launch their attacks using them or to store the data they have managed to steal from you. They also add lines of code (or even create whole programs) to do their work for them. Alternatively, you might notice user-accounts you hadn’t created being used on your site.

A good way of spotting such additions would be odd-name files and/or folders and their creation dates that are much later then the date of installation or setup of your website. These will let you know that your system has been tampered with.

Still, don’t forget that some temporary files and folders are created, and regularly updated, by normal website applications and software.

Contact from Banks and Wholesalers

Another good sign your site has been compromised is when your bank or your wholesaler contacts you to inform you of suspicious orders or financial transactions. The hackers might order goods using your clients’ credit card details or they might try to access their money. If the owners of the cards raise the issue with the banks and wholesalers you can rest assured, you will hear about it all too.

Alright, now that we have seen the signs, let us have a look at what you need to do before and after you have been hacked:

Before

• Always use secure passwords. Learn how to create complex, unbreakable passwords and make sure you change them regularly.
• Make sure all your applications and software (especially anti-virus and anti-malware) are regularly updated.
• Do not open email and attachments from people you don’t know. Do not visit sites that are infected (you will usually get a warning before you reach the site).
• Design and implement a new security policy and make all your users aware of it. Then, enforce it.

After

• If you have backups, try to restore them with minimum loss of data.
• Remove all accounts that you cannot account for.
• Update and upgrade all your software and applications.
• Keep an eye on your website’s and server’s process. Take steps to make sure they do not start without your allowing them.
• Create security awareness among your staff and users.