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MAILE OHYE: Hi.
I'm Maile Ohye back with the next video in our series to
help you recover your hacked site.
By now, you've probably seen our first video, Overview of a
Hacked Site, and you're ready to take the next step.
Recovering a hacked site can be tricky, and it requires
more technical skill than one might expect.
That's why finding specialists who can help you with your
individual situation, as well as talk to you in a language
that's comfortable, is paramount.
This video is tailored for site owners who don't feel
they have the technical expertise to
recover on their own.
The goal is to help you build a support network so you have
assistance along the way.
The best support comes from specialists who are familiar
with your website, hosting environment, and
configuration.
Therefore, your web host, also call your hoster or hosting
provider, should be contacted as soon as possible.
Your hosting provider is the company that stores the files
for your website and then makes them
accessible on the web.
If you have free hosting, then your hoster might be named in
your domain, like blogspot.com for free blogger hosting or
wordpress.com for WordPress hosting.
Free hosting sites might have good support resources, like
an online discussion group if you search for words like
hacked or malware in their online help center.
Otherwise, your hoster is the company to whom you pay
monthly or yearly fees so your site is accessible on the web.
Reaching out to your host or via phone, chat, or email is a
smart first action when building a support network.
Your hoster may be able to guide you through the entire
process to recovery.
In fact, in StopBadware's 2012 survey of 600 webmasters with
hacked sites, of the site owners who asked their hoster
for support, 60% received assistance with
their hacked site.
Hopefully your hosting provider will also be helpful.
If, however, your hoster doesn't offer assistance, or
to expand your support team beyond your hoster, the second
action in this video is being aware of helpful online
resources and communities.
Similar to the benefits of being an educated patient when
you visit the doctor, knowing where to turn for reputable
information about hacked sites helps you become a more
knowledgeable site owner.
One good resource is StopBadware.
StopBadware where has articles, tools, and a
discussion forum focused specifically on helping
webmasters of hacked sites.
There's also a Google Webmaster forum, where the
community helps one another with a broad range of issues.
One such problem is recovering from a hacked site.
As your peruse the posts in these forums, you'll start to
notice the types of questions that are asked.
It may be the case that someone has experienced the
same problem as you and their question
was thoroughly answered.
However, because these community forums are comprised
of members who often volunteer their time to help fellow site
owners, please do not expect dedicated one-on-one support.
That brings us to the third action in
building a support network.
And that's the possibility of enlisting private help from a
trusted security expert.
If you choose to hire a security expert, you can, of
course, start a search by asking friends and family for
their recommendations.
Perhaps they know of a reputable consultant.
Or in the community forums mentioned earlier, you might
notice some standout volunteers who could help with
recommendations or referrals.
The last option I'd like to mention, although only you can
decide if it's worth the price and effort, is to select an
entirely new hoster, one with expertise in recovering and
migrating a previously hacked site to their platform.
To recap, because recovering a hacked site requires both
technical skill and intimate knowledge of your site and
hosting environment, building a strong support network is an
important second step.
Commonly, a support network includes your hosting
provider, reputable online resources and communities,
and, if necessary, a trusted security consultant or even a
new hosting provider who specializes in site recovery.
Now you've just about completed two steps in hacked
site recovery.
Great job.
The next step-- quarantine your site--
will start requiring more technical skill to
complete each task.
That's when you'll need your strong support network.
So, armed with your support team, we'll see you again in
the next video.
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