What exactly is Malware?

Staff — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 22:22:18 +0000

Malware (Virus) is a very broad term, and there are many different ways that malware can be injected into a website. One common way that malware is inserted is by a File Inclusion vulnerability. With this vulnerability, the hacker will insert a malicious script into the site by editing the PHP. This is normally performed by using methods similar to Code Injections. As a result, creating secure user input validation will also mitigate this vulnerability, along with coding the PHP to eliminate the possibility of Remote File Inclusion (RFI). Malware can also be inserted by gaining login access, so many other security measures must be taken to mitigate this risk. Oftentimes, the hacker’s goal is to insert malware, no matter what vulnerability he/she is using to gain access.

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Can Weak Security Ruin Your SEO Efforts?

Charlie Tobler — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 23:36:10 +0000

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ever-increasing aspect of the web industry, and for good reason. Search engines have become an important part of our lives. We search for information, businesses, reviews… Everything. And without SEO, your potential customers, readers, etc, most likely won’t be able to find your website. That means lost traffic, which means lost business. That is why SEO is of such importance to the web industry, and to business in general.

Unfortunately, it is so easy to forget one of the most integral aspects of SEO: Security. How does security affect search engine rankings?

The search engines rank websites based on relevant, quality content, because this is of most value to the one searching. The search engine has the ability to crawl your site, so it can find your content and determine if it is relevant to the search. Whichever sites the search engine thinks will be of most value are displayed at the top of results.

Makes sense, right? This is where site security comes in.

Let’s say your site has been hacked, and the hackers use your site to send and host spam, or to redirect to an explicit website. When the search engine crawls your site, it will find malicious activity. Red flags to the search engine! The search engine is responsible for showing relevant, SAFE, results to its users. When a site is compromised by malware, it doesn’t look safe to the search engine anymore. And this will show itself in lower rankings, or an even worse scenario: the search engine blacklisting your site. In this case, the search engine has deemed your site dangerous enough to blacklist it. This is bad for both brand reputation, and lost revenue and/or readership. This is something you want to mitigate.

Is this repairable? Yes! Our premium plans feature an added blacklist repair tool which works with our robust Anti-virus service to clean the malware from your site and even remove your site from the blacklist directories.

Hopefully, I have successfully communicated just how essential the security of your website is to its search engine optimization. You can’t afford to be without an Elite Security protocol, such as OmniSOS.

Check out our plans to determine which package is right for you!

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What exactly is Malware?

Can Weak Security Ruin Your SEO Efforts?