Website infections are on the rise, leading to the transmission of malware, viruses, or spyware to users visiting the site. It’s crucial for website administrators to oversee the publication and maintenance of their content, as they bear responsibility for it and for preventing these types of infections.
Remember, the Internet is a global showcase, and your website is accessible to anyone who wishes to explore it. Popularity or high visitor numbers are not necessary. Website attacks are often executed by programs designed to find vulnerabilities, scanning any site they encounter for weaknesses. There may be days or even weeks when your website shows no signs of spyware or malware, as these programs activate remotely at the attackers’ discretion. Typically, the goal of such infections is to compromise your visitors’ computers, leading to the installation of programs that send spam or extract private data.
What is spyware or malware?
Spyware is a type of malware that is discreetly installed on a computer to collect information about the user’s activities. Its primary function is to gather user data and share it with advertising companies or other organizations, often for purposes like sending spam.
Malware is software designed to infiltrate a system and cause harm without the owner’s awareness. It serves various purposes, including Trojans and spyware.
How can a website get infected?
The methods of infection for a page can differ based on its type, programming, and whether it utilizes a content management system. Below, we outline some of the most common infection methods.
FTP password theft. If spyware is present on your computer, it may have captured your FTP password, allowing unauthorized access to publish or alter your website files.
Publishing web content from an infected computer can lead to issues. If your computer has spyware or malware, any changes you make to your pages and publish could result in your website becoming infected as well. It’s common for certain pages, such as index.html or index.htm, to be affected.
Vulnerabilities in published programs are a major concern. Most website infections occur due to “code injection,” which leverages weaknesses in website programming to run external programs that enable control over your web hosting. Attackers typically use these programs to upload different files or alter published pages, adding code that generates spyware or malware for your visitors.
Content Management System Vulnerabilities. This is a common type of website infection. Website managers frequently install popular programs to handle their content, like WordPress or Joomla. The issue occurs when these programs are not regularly updated to the latest versions, allowing attackers to exploit vulnerabilities and inject spyware or malware.
Solutions for infections
The website administrator must ensure that their pages are always free from viruses, spyware, and malware. To achieve this, they should follow some basic recommendations:
- Always keep your antivirus and antispyware software updated. Regularly scan your computer for spyware or malware. Use reputable programs, especially those downloaded from official sites, to ensure the software is genuine and free of spyware.
- If you’ve found spyware that could have accessed your FTP or email passwords, disinfect your computer right away and change any possibly compromised FTP passwords. Use hard-to-guess passwords and try to change them regularly when you can.
- Review and verify published programs or pages carefully. Ensure they are immune to “code injections.” There’s extensive documentation on these attacks available in search engines. Review your programs or ask your programmer to confirm their immunity to such attacks.
- Regularly update the software on your website. Keep any software installed on your web hosting up to date. Visit forums or vendor websites to download the latest versions and avoid future problems.
What solutions do Space WWW servers offer?
At Space WWW, we take these infections very seriously, as an infected website can spread the spyware or malware it hosts to thousands of customers.
We ensure that our servers and systems are free from viruses, spyware, and malware. Our tools continuously analyze traffic to and from our websites to eliminate vulnerabilities and threats. While we protect against thousands of daily attacks, some threats are not easily detected and may evade our systems.
The ultimate responsibility for keeping websites clean lies with the publisher. This person knows their website well and can identify if an infection has occurred. Whenever Space WWW detects an infection, it notifies the website owner to enable quick cleanup. If the website experiences regular infections, it is typically temporarily disabled to prevent further issues.
Utilities for detecting infections
There are several online tools for website analysis, such as:
https://www.avg.com.au/resources/web-page-scanner/
https://www.onlinelinkscan.com/
https://wepawet.iseclab.org/
We suggest scanning your computer with anti-malware tools, such as:
Ad-Aware Free Anti-Malware, https://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
Malicious Software Removal Tool, https://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx
It offers several free antiviruses, such as:
AVG Free, https://free.avg.com
Avast, https://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download
There are also online analyzers for computers, such as:
Panda Active Scan, https://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/default
The key is to identify the type of virus or malware you have so you can remove it.