DailyMotion ranks as one of the top websites around today. Similar to Facebook and other social networking sites, it lets users create an account, upload their own videos and share their favorites with other users. They can upload content that they create on their own, like videos created by celebrities and everyday people and share links to those videos with others. After the attack that occurred on June 28, the site watched its page views drop and its users leave in droves. Website owners can look closely at that attack and learn a few lessons from what happened before and after the attack.
DailyMotion Attack
The Alexa ranking refers to how a website ranks in comparison to other sites. Prior to the June attack, DailyMotion ranked at number 90 on that list. The Alexa ranking looks at how much traffic a site gets, the number of unique page views and other factors to determine a site’s ranking. On June 28, visitors to the site found themselves redirected to a new site, which hosted an exploit kit called Sweet Orange Exploit. Those with security software on their computers escaped the page without any problems, but other users found that the kit automatically installed malware on their computers.
Keep an Eye on Pages and Traffic
One of the biggest lessons that site owners learned from that attack is that they need to keep an eye on their pages and traffic to their sites. Some suspect that someone on the inside created the redirect of the page but others point to hackers. Though the company quickly took steps to resolve the problem, they didn’t move as fast as some might think. Had the site founders watched the website and kept an eye on where traffic went and its pages, users would be happier with the site.
Remedy Problems Quickly
DailyMotion not only took care of the issue as fast as possible, but the site managed to reclaim its Alexa ranking. It also issued an apology to its users, which is something that other sites need to consider. The Sweet Orange Exploit kit downloaded pay per click software that took over user’s machines and used their computers to visit thousands of websites, which generated income for the owners of those sites. As Google and other ad counters do not recognize automatic clicks of this type, it’s likely that it will take awhile before site owners receive their next ad payments. Those who quickly identify issues and take care of problems can avoid payment issues later.
Protect Users in the Future
According to this website, protecting users is an important part of running and operating a website. Websites today face hacking from users all around the world. Those hackers can gain access to private and confidential information, steal data and even take over popular websites. Those who rely on pay per click advertising need to find ways to protect users from hacks and exploit kits to protect their readers and users and to protect their payments too.
