It used to be the case that
mainly large organizations were targeted for hacker attacks, but these
days even small sites are fair game, because hackers broadly scan for
any site that has vulnerabilities. It could equally be a wordpress
website hacked or any other type of platform.
These are the main signs of a hacked website:
a) Browser alert — your website browser starts showing warning screens.
b) Google Search Console notification — if your website is linked to
the Google Search Console (previously called Google Webmaster Tools),
Google will send you an email notification that your website has been
hacked. If Google or any other search engine flags your website because
of unusual changes or activity, you could be placed on a blacklist which
excludes your website from being shown in search results.
c)
Slow loading time — your website is taking twice as long to load up.
This can indicate a hacking attack caused by malware using your server.
d) Customer contact — you may get complaints through your contact form.
e) Hosting provider shuts website down — this happens when their
security monitoring notices your website has been hacked, or they’re
contacted by one of your customers. Hosting providers often take
suspicious sites offline without prior warning.
f) Emails marked as spam — you may be getting unusually low email
open rates because your customer communications are being sent to their
spam folder. This can be caused by hackers sending lists of spam emails
through your website, resulting in your website being put on a blacklist
by your email provider.
g) Website used for ads or redirects — a Cross-Site-Scripting (XSS)
attack is when hackers earn money through hosting paid pop-up ads on
your site, or sending your customers to a different website.