As reported on TechCrunch.
by FREDERIC LARDINOIS
No site is fully immune to getting hacked, but there are some obvious things every site owner can do to make it a bit harder for hackers to break into a web server and add rogue links or take over a site completely. Today, Googlelaunched its new “Help for Hacked Sites” series to teach webmasters how to avoid getting hacked in the first place – and how to recover their sites if it happens.
The first part of the series is geared toward relatively non-technical users, while the later part is aimed at users who can read code and are comfortable with using terminal commands. Overall, the series features about 80 minutes of video and a dozen or so articles that cover everything from basic things like figuring out that a site was actually hacked to working with your host to recover a site, all the way to using vulnerability scanners, understanding SQL injections, reading log files and using the shell to log into your site to determine the root-cause vulnerability.
The series also explains how users can ensure that Google removes the dreaded “This site may harm your computer” and “This site may be compromised” links on Google Search after they have cleaned their sites.
“While we attempt to outline the necessary steps in recovery,” Google’s Developer Programs tech lead Maile Ohye admits in today’s announcement, “each task remains fairly difficult for site owners unless they have advanced knowledge of system administrator commands and experience with source code.” Because of this, Google also points site owners to its Webmaster Forum for additional help.