Preventing a Website Hacking

This guide explains how to prevent cyberattacks and how to avoid a hack on the website you manage.

The Role of the Host

Infomaniak’s role is to provide quality hosting, which makes it essential to respond quickly to various attacks that any internet entity might face. Infomaniak takes all possible precautions against hacking, especially by keeping the different versions of the technologies used up to date.

In the case of a confirmed hack, if the source can be traced and the machine was compromised due to a security flaw under Infomaniak's responsibility, or if server integrity is at stake, Infomaniak will handle the situation.

The Role of the Website Owner and Webmaster

If your site’s hack is due to your own responsibility (an outdated script, an unpatched security update, etc.), Infomaniak will contact you to inform you of an issue that needs to be resolved quickly. Organisations like Saferinternet may also suspend the domain name, which will disable both the website and email.

Infomaniak cannot counter exploits related to bugs in your PHP code or others. If the hack goes undetected, you will generally notice it soon by suspicious elements on your pages or by receiving numerous error emails.

It is therefore your responsibility to maintain your website over time and not let it "die" in a corner; consider hiring a webmaster if necessary. 

Infomaniak's Recommendations

1. Regularly update all your web applications (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, ownCloud, etc.).
2. Keep your site’s PHP version on Infomaniak servers up to date.
3. Keep your site updated by migrating to new offers when prompted.
4. ‍Add a protection system to your contact forms (captcha, etc.) and any "tell-a-friend" tools.
5. Regularly perform a virus scan on the hosting.
6. Monitor the vulnerability detection tool.
7. Remove anything you did not develop yourself and that has not received updates/fixes for several months.
8. Regularly back up your site (refer to this other guide if you use WordPress) when everything is working well and store it in a safe place (since automatic backups are only kept for a few days, which may not be long enough if you discover an intrusion later).
9. Visit ibarry.ch.

If an Issue Has Occurred...

1. Change the passwords for your web applications, your FTP accounts, and your databases, ensuring you check for any viruses on your computer first.
2. Restore a backup but immediately update everything that can be updated once the restoration is complete.