Website security for South Florida businesses

How to tell your site might be hacked

Sometimes it is loud. Your site redirects somewhere weird, or Google shows a warning next to your name in search results. Sometimes it is quiet, and quiet is worse. Spam links buried in your footer, a mystery admin account, pages you did not write.

If any of this sounds familiar, do not wait for it to fix itself. It will not.

• ▸Visitors see browser warnings when they try to open your site
• ▸Search results show strange text next to your business name
• ▸Customers say your site tried to download something
• ▸Your host suspends the account with little explanation
• ▸You find admin users or pages you did not create

Malware cleanup on a copy, not your live site

First, we make a full copy of your site and work on that. We find the malicious code, remove it, and repair what it broke. A compromise can leave a backdoor that lets the problem return, so we look for one instead of stopping at the obvious files.

When the copy is clean and tested, we ship it to live. If Google flagged your site, we request a review after the cleanup. Google decides when the warning comes down. We explain what we found and what we did in plain English.

Hardening: close the easy doors

Cleanup fixes today. Hardening is the work that follows. Outdated software and weak logins can create security risks, so we go through the usual trouble spots and deal with what we find. The point is to address identified vulnerabilities and cut unnecessary access.

• ▸Updates for core software, themes, and plugins, tested before anything goes live
• ▸A plugin audit that cuts what you do not need and flags what looks abandoned
• ▸Login protection against repeated guessing, with admin access limited to who needs it
• ▸A review of file permissions to limit unnecessary write access where the platform allows it
• ▸Backups on a real schedule to support recovery if something goes wrong

HTTPS and monitoring, the quiet work

HTTPS encrypts data in transit between your visitor's browser and your site. Forms sent over plain HTTP lack that protection. Browsers may label HTTP pages as not secure, and certificate errors can trigger blocking warnings. We set up HTTPS properly and keep it current.

Then we keep watch. Monitoring helps detect trouble: files that change when they should not, behavior that looks off. Malware does its worst damage when it sits unnoticed, so the goal is to spot problems while they are still small.

Hacked right now? The first hour

Do not panic, and do not start deleting things. Wiping files before anyone looks at them can erase the clues that show how the problem started. Here is what actually helps.

• ▸Call 844-310-9720 and tell us exactly what you are seeing
• ▸Change your admin, hosting, and database passwords right away
• ▸Hold off on restoring an old backup: it may carry the same hole they used
• ▸Screenshot anything strange so we can see what you see
• ▸If your site takes payments, tell your payment provider what happened

The honest part: no magic shields

No one can promise your site cannot be hacked again. Be careful with anyone who makes that promise. What we do is address identified vulnerabilities, reduce unnecessary access, and keep watch after the work is done. We also offer maintenance plans if you want that handled on an ongoing basis.

SoFlo Web Services is part of J.M. Field, a Fort Lauderdale company serving South Florida businesses since 1993. We work on WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, and custom sites built by anyone, including sites whose developer is long gone. Call 844-310-9720.

Questions