Malware is one of the most dangerous threats to your website and can rob you of your critical website information or hamper the functioning of your website!
What exactly is malware?
Malware means malicious software. In simple words, malware is a software that is created with the purpose of causing harm to data or devices. You might be hearing about Trojans, viruses, spyware etc. these are nothing but several types of malware.
What does malware do?
The kind of malware you are dealing with can be ascertained with the way in which it causes the damage. Common types of malware are listed below:
Virus : Viruses are attached to a clean file and upon accessing, it infects the other clean files. Viruses can spread to a great extent and damage the core functionality of a system and it can also delete and corrupt files. Viruses generally appear in an executable file.
Trojans : Trojans disguise themselves as genuine software applications or they may be a part of legitimate software applications that have been tampered. A Trojan functions secretively and creates loops in your website security to let the other form of malware in.
Spyware : Just like the name suggests, spyware is a type of malware that is designed to spy on you. Spyware hides in the background and registers what you are doing online and takes notes about critical information like your passwords, your credit card and debit card numbers, what you search online etc.
Worms : Worms infect the complete network of local or internet based devices with the use of network interfaces. Worms make use of every consecutive infected machine in order to infect more machines.
Ransomware : Ransomware is a rare malware that locks down your computer and threatens to delete everything unless you pay a ransom amount to the creator of the ransomware.
Adware : Adware is not always malicious in nature. It is an aggressive advertising software that affects your website security in order to serve you more ads. There are possibilities that these ads might create a pathway for other malware to damage your data and device. Another adverse effect is the creation of pop-ups ads which is really annoying.
Botnets : Botnets are basically networks of infected computers that are created to function together under the command of an attacker.
Malware is surely a dangerous thing! Here are 7 great tips to protect your website from malware:
Updating Software And CMS
Most of the website owners prefer to work with a content management system like WordPress, Joomla or Drupal etc. A CMS is easy to use and it is an affordable platform for managing your website but if the CMS is not updated in time, it can create a pathway for cyber attacks. New updates are created for content management systems and softwares in order to provide a higher level of security. It is important to make sure that your system, plugins, themes, extensions and CMS version are updated in time as it will strengthen your web security. Popular content management systems like WordPress will notify you when a new update is ready to be implemented or if you schedule automatic updates, it will also update in time by itself.
Many types of malware and other viruses go unnoticed as the website owners are not aware of it. Malware and viruses can be usually implemented with a single one-line script that is injected in your website code. This malicious code is made to look like the normal website code. For preventing this from happening, it is important to opt for a web hosting platform that offers website scanning. Although this is a paid service, investing in it will safeguard your website from the malicious code and prevent the loss of important data. Website scanning looks for harmful code that does not belong to the code of your website and the malicious code is immediately notified.
Web Application Firewalls
It is not just important to tackle the existing website threats, it is also important to prevent them from coming back. The implementation of web application firewalls (WAF) can help in preventing attackers from even visiting your website. A web application firewall analyses the website traffic on the basis of the source it is coming from. It also analyses the behavior of the website traffic and the type of information requested. Based on these factors and some other important criteria, the firewall allows the legitimate traffic like customers and search engines to access your website and blocks the malicious traffic like hackers and spam bots.
You might have heard that it is important to use strong and complicated passwords that are hard to guess, but have you implemented it? If you haven’t, then you must change your passwords right away. An approximate definition of a strong password is a password that comprises of more than eight characters, no dictionary words, a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, use of digits and special characters. A weak password can provide a pathway to the hackers to create a brute-force attack on your website. It is important to create a strong password that cannot be guessed or hacked easily. If you have customers creating accounts on your website, advise them to use strong and complicated passwords as well.
Use of HTTPS
As a customer you might be looking for the green HTTPS bar while shopping online or while making an online payment. The green bar and HTTPS in the URL of the website states that the website is secured with a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Having an SSL certificate installed on your website is a great way of enhancing security and safeguarding the customer transactions. With the use of a secure sockets layer (SSL), all the online transactions done on your website will be authenticated and therefore, it is difficult for hackers to put any virus or malicious code on your website. Having an SSL certificate installed on your website not just secures your website but also provides you with search engine benefit as Google prefers the website that use SSL certificate.
Conceal Your ‘Admin’ Directories
One of the easiest ways that hackers use to access your website’s data is by accessing the ‘Admin’ directories. Hackers make use of scripts that can scan the directories on your web server to look for names like ‘admin’, ‘loigin’, ‘access’ etc. and after locating such files, hackers start making attempts to comprise the website security. Most of the web hosting platforms provide control over your website directory names and you can rename your admin folders to something else so that they are not easily found by the hackers. Select directory names that would not signify admin directories and notify the other webmasters working on your website about this. This practice will enable you to ward off a major security breach.
Use Of MalwareGone Software
MalwareGone is a great software that detects the malware and provides solutions for getting rid of it. MalwareGone makes use of the actionable intelligence technology for analyzing the collected website information. This method allows the scanner to detect files that act and look like malware. This software is crafted to discover viruses, rootkits, trojans, spyware and other types of malware on a website. MalwareGone detects and removes the constant threats from your operating system by making use of prior backups that are stored in a cloud environment.
Malware ni moja ya vitisho hatari zaidi kwa tovuti yako na inaweza kuiba habari yako muhimu ya tovuti au kuzuia kazi ya tovuti yako! Programu-jambo mbaya ni nini hasa? Malware ni programu mbaya. Kwa maneno rahisi, programu hasidi ni programu ambayo huundwa kwa kusudi la kusababisha uharibifu wa data au vifaa. Unaweza kuwa na kusikia kuhusu Trojan, virusi, spyware nk. Hii ni aina ya programu hasidi. Je, ni nini kinachoweza kufanya programu hasidi? Aina ya programu hasidi unayofanya kazi nayo inaweza kuthibitishwa na njia ambayo husababisha uharibifu. Aina za kawaida za programu hasidi zimeorodheshwa hapa chini: Virusi: Virusi huambatanishwa na faili safi na wakati wa kupata, huambukiza faili zingine safi. Virusi inaweza kuenea kwa kiasi kikubwa na kuharibu utendaji wa msingi wa mfumo na pia inaweza kufuta na faili uharibifu. Kwa kawaida virusi huonekana katika faili inayoweza kutekelezwa. Trojan: Trojan hujificha kama programu halisi au inaweza kuwa sehemu ya programu halali ambazo zimepotoshwa. Trojan hufanya kazi kwa siri na huunda vifungo katika usalama wa tovuti yako ili kuruhusu aina nyingine ya programu hasidi kuingia. Spyware ni aina ya programu hasidi iliyoundwa kwa ajili ya kupeleleza. Spyware hujificha nyuma na kurekodi kile unachofanya mtandaoni na kuchukua maelezo kuhusu habari muhimu kama vile nywila zako, nambari za kadi yako ya mkopo na kadi ya mkopo, kile unachotafuta mtandaoni, na kadhalika. Worms: Worms kuambukiza mtandao kamili ya vifaa vya ndani au mtandao kulingana na matumizi ya interfaces mtandao. Minyoo hutumia kila mashine iliyoambukizwa mfululizo ili kuambukiza mashine zaidi. Ransomware ni aina ya programu hasidi ambayo huficha kompyuta yako na kutishia kufuta kila kitu isipokuwa utamlipa mfuko wa fidia kwa muumbaji wa programu hiyo. Adware: Adware si daima ni mbaya katika asili. Programu ya matangazo ya ujasiri ambayo huathiri usalama wa tovuti yako ili kukupa matangazo zaidi. Kuna uwezekano kwamba matangazo haya inaweza kuunda njia kwa ajili ya programu hasidi nyingine kuharibu data yako na kifaa. Athari nyingine mbaya ni uundaji wa pop-ups matangazo ambayo ni kweli annoying. Botnets ni mtandao wa kompyuta zilizoambukizwa ambazo zimeundwa kufanya kazi pamoja chini ya amri ya mshambuliaji. Kwa hakika programu-jambazi ni hatari sana! Hapa ni vidokezo 7 vya kuhifadhi tovuti yako dhidi ya programu hasidi: Programu ya Usanidi na CMS Wamiliki wengi wa tovuti wanapendelea kufanya kazi na mfumo wa usimamizi wa maudhui kama WordPress, Joomla au Drupal. CMS ni rahisi kutumia na ni jukwaa la bei nafuu la kusimamia tovuti yako, lakini ikiwa CMS haijasasishwa kwa wakati, inaweza kuunda njia ya mashambulizi ya mtandao. Updates mpya ni kuundwa kwa ajili ya mifumo ya usimamizi wa maudhui na programu ili kutoa ngazi ya juu ya usalama. Ni muhimu kuhakikisha kwamba programu yako, programu-jalizi, mandhari, upanuzi na toleo la CMS ni updated kwa wakati kama itakuwa kuimarisha usalama wako mtandao. Mifumo maarufu ya usimamizi wa maudhui kama WordPress itakujulisha wakati sasisho jipya litakapokuwa tayari kutekelezwa au ikiwa utapanga sasisho la moja kwa moja, pia litabadilisha kwa wakati. Aina nyingi za programu hasidi na virusi vingine havijulikani kwani wamiliki wa wavuti hawajui. Kwa kawaida, virusi vinaweza kuingizwa kwa maandishi ya mstari mmoja ambayo huingizwa kwenye nambari ya wavuti yako. Nambari hii mbaya imefanywa kuonekana kama nambari ya kawaida ya tovuti. Ili kuzuia hili kutokea, ni muhimu kuchagua jukwaa la kukaribisha wavuti ambalo linatoa skanning ya wavuti. Ingawa hii ni huduma ya kulipwa, kuwekeza katika italinda tovuti yako kutoka kwa nambari mbaya na kuzuia hasara ya data muhimu. Utafiti wa wavuti hutafuta nambari mbaya ambayo haiko kwenye nambari ya wavuti yako na nambari mbaya inaripotiwa mara moja. Web Application Firewalls: Ni muhimu kukabiliana na vitisho vya tovuti zilizopo, lakini pia ni muhimu kuzuia kurudi kwao. Utekelezaji wa firewalls za programu za wavuti (WAF) unaweza kusaidia kuzuia washambuliaji kutoka hata kutembelea wavuti yako. Firewall ya programu ya wavuti inachambua trafiki ya wavuti kwa msingi wa chanzo kinachotoka. Pia inachambua tabia ya trafiki ya tovuti na aina ya habari iliyoombwa. Kwa kuzingatia mambo haya na vigezo vingine muhimu, ukuta wa moto unaruhusu trafiki halali kama wateja na injini za utafutaji kufikia wavuti yako na kuzuia trafiki mbaya kama watekaji na bots za spam. "Huenda umesikia kwamba ni muhimu kutumia ""password"" ngumu kutabiri, lakini umefanya hivyo?" Kama huna, basi lazima kubadilisha nywila yako mara moja. Nambari ya siri yenye nguvu ni nambari ambayo ina zaidi ya herufi nane, hakuna maneno ya kamusi, mchanganyiko wa herufi kubwa na ndogo, matumizi ya tarakimu na herufi maalum. Nenosiri dhaifu inaweza kutoa njia kwa wahasibu kuunda mashambulizi ya nguvu mbaya kwenye wavuti yako. Ni muhimu kuunda nenosiri lenye nguvu ambalo haliwezi kukadiriwa au kuvunjwa kwa urahisi. Ikiwa una wateja wanaotengeneza akaunti kwenye wavuti yako, washauri watumie nywila ngumu na ngumu pia. HTTPS: Kama mteja, unaweza kuwa unatafuta bar ya kijani ya HTTPS wakati wa ununuzi mtandaoni au wakati wa kufanya malipo mtandaoni. HTTPS ni njia ya kuwasiliana na wavuti ya wavuti, ambayo inamaanisha kuwa tovuti yako imefungwa na SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Kuunganisha cheti cha SSL kwenye wavuti yako ni njia nzuri ya kuboresha usalama na kulinda shughuli za wateja. Kwa kutumia safu ya soketi salama (SSL), shughuli zote za mtandaoni zinazofanywa kwenye wavuti yako zitathibitishwa na kwa hivyo, ni vigumu kwa wahasibu kuweka virusi au nambari mbaya kwenye wavuti yako. Kuunganisha cheti cha SSL kwenye wavuti yako sio tu inahakikisha usalama wa wavuti yako, lakini pia inakupa faida ya injini ya utafutaji, kwani Google hupendelea tovuti ambazo hutumia cheti cha SSL. Ficha yako <unk>Admin<unk> Directories Moja ya njia rahisi kwamba hackers kutumia kupata tovuti yako <unk>s data ni kwa kupata <unk>Admin<unk> directories. Hackers kufanya matumizi ya scripts ambayo inaweza skanning directories juu ya seva yako ya mtandao kuangalia kwa majina kama <unk>admin<unk>, <unk>loigin<unk>, <unk>access<unk> nk. Baada ya kupata faili hizo, watapeli huanza kujaribu kuharibu usalama wa tovuti. Web Hosting Platforms hutoa udhibiti juu ya majina ya orodha ya tovuti yako na unaweza kubadilisha jina la folda zako za admin kwa kitu kingine ili wasiweze kupatikana kwa urahisi na wahasibu. Chagua majina ya orodha ambayo hayataonyesha orodha za msimamizi na wajumbe wengine wa wavuti wanaofanya kazi kwenye wavuti yako kuhusu hili. Mazoea hayo yatakuwezesha kuzuia uvunjaji mkubwa wa usalama. MalwareGone ni programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu ya programu. MalwareGone hutumia teknolojia ya ujasusi inayoweza kutekelezwa kwa kuchambua habari za wavuti zilizokusanywa. Mbinu hii inaruhusu scanner kugundua faili ambayo kutenda na kuangalia kama programu hasidi. Programu hii ni crafted kugundua virusi, rootkits, trojans, spyware na aina nyingine ya programu hasidi kwenye tovuti. MalwareGone huchunguza na kuondoa vitisho vya mara kwa mara kutoka kwa mfumo wako wa uendeshaji kwa kutumia nakala za nyuma zilizopo zilizowekwa katika mazingira ya wingu.