What is Phishing and how can I prevent it?

"Phishing" is a method used by hackers to obtain personal information about others through the Internet.  Normally a phishing site will be designed to look like a website that someone trusts, but instead of going to the desired website, the information is given to the hackers instead.  A common example that we see is a phishing site will have the appearance of a bank website to get a user's bank account information.  Phishing sites are strictly forbidden on Web Hosting Hub servers.

Unfortunately, sometimes if a website is hacked, the hackers will place "phishing" files on the hacked website.  For example, if your account FTP information is compromised, a hacker may place in a remote folder on your account a phishing site.  When this is caught by Web Hosting Hub or a third party scanner, it will appear that you are running a phishing site when really it was due to your account being hacked.  This happens rarely but unfortunately it does occur.  To help protect your website, we recommend:

• Having a secure cPanel and FTP password(s).  The easiest way for your website to be hacked is if your FTP information is compromised.  To help prevent this, make sure that you have a complicated and secure password and only give out the password to those that absolutely need it.
• Be aware of any files or folders on your account that you did not place there.  While some folders and files are server files (for example, the phpinfo.php file), if you notice a lot of text files in a folder that were not there the day before, it may be because your site was compromised.  If you ever see a folder or file that you are not sure about, please contact our support so we can look into it further for you.
• Remove any signs of phishing if notified of phishing on your account.  While Web Hosting Hub attempts to find all phishing attempts from our servers, sometimes it is the website being spoofed that notices and they may contact us or you directly to remove the phishing files.  If we receive notification, we will remove the files automatically and notify you that your website contained phishing files.  If you are notified directly, please remove the files as soon as possible. 

Phishing is not the most common website hack, but it is something to keep in mind when you are looking at your account files and folders.  Do not hesitate to contact our support team if you have any suspicions of the possibility that your website has any phishing related files.