Hacker in control of my website

  • Hello-
    I run a nonprofit organization. Our website was hacked on Friday night. Our hosting provider was able to gain control back of the site on Saturday, and said they put in extra security measures to prevent this again. Within 24 hours the site was hacked again, and the hacker remains in control of the site. Our hosting provider has been unable to log back into the site.

    What do I need to do? Is this breach our fault or did this occur on the server’s side? We have limited funding as a nonprofit, and we need some good advice on how to resolve the issue. Our website is https://www.desginedfuture.org

    Thank you in advance for any direction you can provide.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Remain calm and carefully follow this guide. When you’re done, you may want to implement some (if not all) of the recommended security measures.

    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    Sorry to hear of your troubles. Please work through the steps in FAQ My site was hacked.

    Gaining control and installing extra security achieves little if the site was not first deloused. It’s like securing the hen house door with the fox still inside ??

    Probably the most common cause of hacked WP sites is a weak password. Most WP sites are under constant brute force attacks, a super strong password is essential. The next most common cause is a security hole in a theme or plugin that has not been updated or is poorly written. This includes neglected staging sites or anything else on the server that’s vulnerable.

    While uncommon, shared hosting does has some unique vulnerabilities that could be exploited if a neglectful host has failed to take appropriate measures.

    The initial hack was likely possible due to one of the above. The recurrence is almost certainly due to leaving a backdoor of some sort installed during the recovery process.

    Thread Starter juliavich

    (@juliavich)

    Thank you both for providing input here. I am unable to log into the site and our hosting provider had been unsuccessful at gaining access until an hour ago. He’s telling me this: “I’ve done a lot of work toward securing the site, but I’m not yet confident that it is locked down based on the scope of the intrusion.”

    We pay an annual fee, and I’d think security measures would be his responsibility, but I’m unsure of this. Would you suggest I find another hosting provider after he gains full control of the site back?

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Hosting providers are responsible for the security of the server, but unless you’re specifically paying them for it additionally, they generally aren’t responsible for the security of the site.

    Follow the guide we both linked to above, there’s a lot you can do without Dashboard access.

    Thread Starter juliavich

    (@juliavich)

    Thank you, James. I’m not a techie but I’ll do my best to navigate through the guide. I’ve been resisting it, but I’ll give it a shot.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    You’re welcome!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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