How to prevent the risk of hacking on your website

Good practices

• Keep installed software updates up to date: WordPress, Joomla, PrestaShop, etc.
• Update all plugins and extensions.
• Avoid installing many plugins and discard those with low ratings: they are usually poorly programmed and are more vulnerable.
• If you are installing more than one system, do it on a subdomain with its own FTP user (created from cPanel) to limit the damage if one is compromised.
• Change your passwords frequently.
• Never connect with your user from public computers. If you had to do this, change your password immediately afterward.
• Keep your computer free of viruses. Many malwares (actually Trojans) record and send the attacker everything you type.

If you have already been hacked

• Restore from a clean, pre-attack backup.
• Change all your passwords (cPanel, FTP, database, CMS panel).
• Remove unnecessary plugins or software.
• Update everything to the latest available version.
• If you don’t have a backup—or the backup already contains the compromised files—delete the entire account and install a new, clean copy from scratch.

Recommended readings

• How to remove .php or .html extensions from URL using .htaccess
• Remotely connect to SQL