Does Website Backup Recovery Solve Hacking Problem?

[dailypress]

I was wondering if your website has been hacked could you simply recover your website to the last time it has been saved to solve the problem?

My hosting company takes backups from my database and hosted files and every time I make a mistake and cant fix it I upload the back up and the site's back to normal but obviously the new content vanishes away.

So I was wondering IF my site every gets hacked or a virus, does uploading a backup fix everything?

[topr8]

normally you'll get hacked through a 'known' exploit, therefore uploading a backup will not help as you will likely be exploited again soon after.
you need to prevent the exploit happening again.

[microedge]

I agree with Topr8 previous post. - You need to prevent the exploit happening again. Your hosting company does npot like security risks on their servers that allow your site be hacked.

It is likely to be an old off the shelf script you installed causing the problem.

[maximillianos]

Also, it could have been an OS exploit, and if your hosting company just restores the DB and your application files, the hack may remain.

Another thing to consider, do you know how they got in? Perhaps they hacked your root password, or another system password. Did you change all your passwords? If not, they may still be on your system right now.

We had a hacker brute force their way into our site last year. They spent about 4-5 months guessing passwords coming in from alternating IP addresses... At the time we had left the small door open they were trying to exploit so we could also remote access our server... We got lucky and saw their break-in as it happened (by luck)... Even so, we ended up getting a new server completely and migrating our application files and database files over from a backup before the intrusion.

We also made sure that small door is now closed, and we came up with a new solution for allowing remote access to our server.

Moral of the story, if they got root access, you may never know what they did, or what back doors they installed. If this is your bread and butter, you may want to consider having a completely new server setup with the lastest OS and patches, and restore your DB and app files from before the hack... or a local copy if you have one.

It may be the best way to ensure you are clean.

[dailypress]

thanks guys...I wasnt hacked but since im getting a bit more traffic it was something I wanted to consider in the future. Ill have to study more soon but as of now i need to increase my traffic a bit more.

I am using Drupal as my CMS and every once in a while I get a security warning that your Drupal must be updated and ...etc that made me wonder if I was able to simply restore in case I do get hacked.