An analysis of the facts showed that
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2025 7:13 am
In our experience, it happens again and again in practice that a development server is inadvertently indexed by search engines.
If it is forgotten after a completed relaunch, it can be taken over relatively easily by unauthorized third parties after a while if it is still connected to the Internet and the content management system is no longer updated.
This leaves security gaps open. An SEO expert from the Cologne-based online marketing company FAIRRANK recently discovered such a case - on the subdomain of a large, foreign-based daily newspaper that had been compromised with spam content.
This situation came to light when a customer of the rcs data america online marketing company asked her SEO advisor. She had googled herself and when she clicked on a search result she ended up on a page with dubious content.
this was on a subdomain called "dev" under the domain of the daily newspaper in question.
The operators were immediately informed of this by FAIRRANK. The exact background is still unclear. It is also not known whether it is actually a server belonging to the newspaper or whether the subdomain was simply hijacked or even created without authorization.
Details of security gaps in common content management systems are sometimes openly traded in relevant forums for large sums of money.
Criminals who spend enough money can use this to get tips on how to exploit these security gaps. Often they simply use a script to search the Internet.
If the script comes across a website that is affected by these security gaps, the perpetrators can strike. Therefore, always make sure that your development servers are also secured and that they are not forgotten after a relaunch.
If such a server is located under a subdomain and is affected by a hack, this can have a very quick impact on the rankings of the entire domain
If it is forgotten after a completed relaunch, it can be taken over relatively easily by unauthorized third parties after a while if it is still connected to the Internet and the content management system is no longer updated.
This leaves security gaps open. An SEO expert from the Cologne-based online marketing company FAIRRANK recently discovered such a case - on the subdomain of a large, foreign-based daily newspaper that had been compromised with spam content.
This situation came to light when a customer of the rcs data america online marketing company asked her SEO advisor. She had googled herself and when she clicked on a search result she ended up on a page with dubious content.
this was on a subdomain called "dev" under the domain of the daily newspaper in question.
The operators were immediately informed of this by FAIRRANK. The exact background is still unclear. It is also not known whether it is actually a server belonging to the newspaper or whether the subdomain was simply hijacked or even created without authorization.
Details of security gaps in common content management systems are sometimes openly traded in relevant forums for large sums of money.
Criminals who spend enough money can use this to get tips on how to exploit these security gaps. Often they simply use a script to search the Internet.
If the script comes across a website that is affected by these security gaps, the perpetrators can strike. Therefore, always make sure that your development servers are also secured and that they are not forgotten after a relaunch.
If such a server is located under a subdomain and is affected by a hack, this can have a very quick impact on the rankings of the entire domain