Websites often come under attack with Japanese Keyword Hack one way or the other. If Japanese keywords are showing randomly on the website’s search results, then the matter can be perplexing. Those who are not sure of what’s happening should know that it is the result of malware on the website.
On many levels, the Japanese keyword attacks are confounding and concerning at the same time. A lot of website owners experienced numerous symptoms in the beginning. They often have been unable to access their sites. They have also faced redirects when trying to access them.
There are many who have experienced unknown users being added to their Google Search Console profiles. This caused a drop in ad revenue. The end result is Japanese text showing up in the search results on Google.
The first thing companies need to do is scan the WordPress website. Then they should opt for removing malware. The Japanese SEO hack is hard to fix. A lot of users have found out that it keeps on coming back.
What is the Japanese keyword hack? – is it dangerous?
The Japanese keyword hack is a serious infection on a website. It is caused by malware. Hackers use it to inject Japanese text into web pages in a spam style. Once the page gets indexed by Search Engines (Google in particular), its appearance in the search engine results will be manipulated. The website will then begin ranking for keywords in Japanese.
Alternatively known as the Japanese keyword hack, it resembles the pharma hack and SEO spam hack. Why? Because it basically injects the website with spam keywords and spam pages. This helps improve other websites’ search rankings on Google.
This is a tactic used mostly by hackers. They do so to promote products, services, and websites which would not be originally allowed under the policies of Google and Google Ads. The products sold are either grey market or illegal (services too). Such malware can even redirect legitimate website users to spam websites.
The problem with malware attacks is that the average visitor cannot realize the malware attack the business faces. They will directly associate that experience with a poor experience.
It is only by coincidence a visitor finds out that all of this is due to malware. There are chances that they are going to be fearful of getting malware on their devices and would hence leave quite quickly. In either way, the business, brand, and/or company plus their website loses out on both business and customers alike.
The symptoms of a Japanese Hack attack on a website – What are they?
The Japanese keyword hack has a noticeable symptom, and that is Japanese characters in the website and the associated search results. But for those who are not going to check their search results regularly, there are more symptoms they should spot:
- Japanese characters in the website’s search results. An obvious symptom of Japanese spam, it is shocking when encountered. Those who click through a result may see either a normal site or a 404 error page.
- Lots of spam pages were added to the attacked site. Those pages are sometimes added in but in large numbers. This is something observed in the search results. WordPress site owners will find it in the website’s database.
- Hackers will usually add themselves to the Google Search Console Account. They do so to manipulate results for geo-location targeting and sitemaps. They will receive an email that someone else has verified themselves as an owner of the site’s Google Search Console profile. In case such behavior is not expected, it indicates that the website has malware.
- Google Search Console will point out issues on the website.
- Redirecting the visitor to another site from the spammed web pages.
- Visitors of the site complain about unsavory, problematic, or spammed content.
- The web host may suspend the website if malware is found on it. It hence becomes quite hard to deal with Japanese keyword hack attacks on WordPress websites.
Malware is inconsistent by nature. Hence there are chances that site owners will only see some of the symptoms mentioned above. They won’t see all of them at once. It is however true that coding errors cause these symptoms but it is quite unlikely. It is wise to keep everything safe and secure. Site owners must hence figure out if their website has an infection or is safe.
Diagnostics for the Japanese keywords spam attacks on websites – what to do to detect it?
Malware unfortunately does not come with any warnings. People often discover after a while that the websites have been hacked. Detecting a malware attack late can cause more serious damage. Such damage can be irreversible sometimes.
Google has deindexed websites. Web hosting companies have suspended websites having malware. This is just the iceberg’s tip. Businesses, brands, and companies alike can lose the whole website because of malware missed from observation. Yet there are some ways to find malware:
- Scanning the entire site for malware.
- Deep scanning of the website using malware detectors (both manual and online).
- Checking the website search results.
- Checking the number of search results.
- Observing and checking the users on Google Search Console.
- Having a good look at the security issues tab of the website.
- Checking for more than one .htaccess file.
- Using URL inspection tools to find out cloaked content.
Read more: Slowloris (Computer Security) – Ways to Stop the Slowloris Attack
How can websites get attacked using a Japanese keyword hack attack?
There are four key reasons websites are vulnerable to malware and cyberattacks. Most of the time, site admins wonder whether or not is WordPress vulnerable or whether they made a good decision changing the web hosting company. Most of the time websites have security flaws in them. The following are the reasons why websites get attacked using this keyword hack:
- Outdated plugins and themes have vulnerabilities.
- Nullified software is never worth using.
- Weak passwords.
- Lastly, brute force attacks.
Read more: Facebook Hack! Your Facebook page was “Liked” by Hackers
Ways of fixing the Japanese Hack attack – proven tips from experts
Once it has been confirmed that the website got hacked, the next step is to remove it as quickly as possible. Malware can cause damage that is exponentially worse if it remains on the website for long. Hence there are three ways to remove the Japanese keyword hack on websites:
- Using a security plugin to clean the attack’s after-effects.
- In the case of a WordPress website, hiring a WordPress security expert works.
- Manually cleaning the hack.
- Using malware removal software or service to clear the website.
In case companies desire to clean it up manually, here are some worthwhile tips for doing so:
- Regaining access to the website.
- Backing up the website.
- Downloading the required plugins and/or themes from the WordPress repository.
- Reinstalling WordPress.
- Cleaning all plugins and themes.
- Removal of malware from the website’s database.
- Checking the root for suspicious files.
- Removing all backdoors.
- Uploading all cleaned files and database.
- Checking all plugins and themes again.
- Repeating the malware removal process with subdomains and WordPress sites nested on the internet.
- Scanning the website again to confirm malware elimination.
Conclusion
Professionals from a well-known cybersecurity company are hopeful about the post is helpful. They believe that the symptoms and tips mentioned to tackle malware and Japanese hack attack. This can truly help secure websites on a whole new level.
Questions and Answers
Q: What happens if site owners find Japanese text on their websites?
A: Site owners need to be sure if their website has a Japanese version. If not then their website appearing in Japanese is evidence of a malware attack.
Q: Though the internet allows the Japanese language, why is it a point of concern?
A: Numerous English language websites do have Japanese langauge versions but the Japanese keyword hack is dangerous. It scrambles everything up and turns the website upside down.
Q: Do websites get attacked?
A: Yes, websites do get attacked. THey get attacked by hackers with viruses, malware and DDoS attacks.
