This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Add Security to Gain More Trust
Some online businesses have no idea that they’re infected with malware until they’ve been blacklisted by Google, which logs about 6,000 malware-infected websites every day, according to Business Week.
If a website is infected with malware and its name lands on the Google Blacklist, a merchant must prove that all traces of malware have been resolved before the name can be removed.
Here’s how to remove a website name from the Blacklist:
- Remove the malware. Google suggests doing the following to fix the problem. Clean up the content, removing any pages that were added, any spam content, and any suspicious code identified by virus scanners or the Google Malware Details tool. If there are backups of the content, consider deleting the content entirely and replacing it with the last-known good backup (once it’s clean and free of hacked content). Check to assure the hacked content is all gone by using the Fetch as Googlebot tool in the Google Webmaster Tools.
- Change passwords. Chances are, a merchant doesn’t know how her website became infected and doesn’t know what information the malware authors obtained. To be safe, change passwords so scammers can’t access the website.
- Request a review from Google. When the malware problem is resolved, request that Google remove the website from the list. There’s a link to request this review on the email Google sent noting that the website was blacklisted.
While it may be a surprise and a concern if your website gets blacklisted for security issues, the news should eventually better prepare your business to prevent malware attacks in the future.