It is heartbreaking to invest a great deal of energy into improving keyword rankings through proper website optimization, only to have the site hacked. As a website optimizer, you must prioritize website security and master prevention and response methods for website hijacking. Part 1: What are the types of website hijacking? Generally speaking, they fall into the following categories.

1: Website infected with Trojans. Criminals gain access to the website backend, FTP, or other admin rights through illegal means, and embed malicious programs (Trojans) in hidden parts of the site. When users visit the website, these Trojans run automatically, infecting visitors’ computers and sending their passwords and data to the attackers.

In addition, if a website is infected with Trojans, search engines, antivirus software, and browsers will issue security warnings upon detection. This is extremely harmful to webmasters, causing a sharp drop in traffic and even leading to the site being penalized by search engines.

2: Malicious wildcard domain resolution. Similarly, if hackers crack the domain administrator account, they may perform malicious wildcard resolution on the domain.

3: Automatic redirects. Hackers insert JS redirect code into compromised websites to steal the site’s legitimate traffic.

4: Search snapshot hijacking. Hackers intrude when the site is unattended, usually between 3 AM and 5–6 AM. Using advanced methods, they gain access to the backend, replace the website’s meta tags and title with content related to their own sites, wait for search engine spiders to crawl, then restore the original information before dawn, leaving almost no trace. As a result, the next-day search snapshot displays the hijacker’s website, meaning your snapshot has been hijacked.

Part 2: How to effectively prevent website hijacking?

The key measures focus on server and website security, including but not limited to the following:

1: Regularly check server logs, mainly for abnormal page access behavior.

2: Check the modification time of website files via FTP for any unusual timestamps.

3: Check whether website programs need updates and upgrade to the latest version promptly if available.

 

 

4: If the website uses third-party plugins, verify their source and assess their security.

5: Rename key files of the website system and change the default backend login path to prevent hackers from automatically scanning specific files to gain access.

6: Use highly complex usernames and passwords for FTP, domain management, hosting, and website backend; never use weak passwords.

7: Choose reputable and technically reliable server and hosting providers such as Alibaba Cloud (Wanwang).

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