Interior Designer Website Saved After Malware Attack [Case Study]

Company Overview

Founded in 2003, Rochelle Interiors is a full-service interior design consultation business offering decorating, space planning, remodeling, and updating for clients’ homes. Founder Rochelle Mella believes in providing graceful aesthetics with functional design to meet the needs of individual budgets. Through rochelleinteriors.com, prospective and current customers can review services offered, view images of before and after projects, and submit a quick inquiry.

The Challenge

Ask any small business owner about establishing their brand and they will all say the same thing – their website is essential. For Rochelle Mella, her website provided a face for her business and acted as a primary contact point for customers. For example, if you search for interior designers in the Sonoma County area, chances are rochelleinteriors.com will be one of the first results to appear.

When customers and site visitors suddenly started calling Rochelle to let her know that upon visiting her website they were being redirected to questionable sites, including pornographic websites, she was embarrassed and concerned. These intermittent redirects went on for months, causing potential customers to give up trying to view Rochelle’s website.

Once the issue was discovered, Rochelle’s first call was to her web developer and hosting provider. However, when they couldn’t determine what was causing the redirects, her web developer recommended Rochelle give SiteLock a call.

The SiteLock team quickly diagnosed the problem – a malicious redirect. Malicious redirects happen when a visitor to a legitimate website is automatically redirected to another website. They are actually one of the most common types of cyberattacks.

The Resolution

Prior to removing the malware, Rochelle was consistently having to apologize to customers for not being able to access her site. This not only affected her ability to drive new leads, but also impacted customer confidence and ultimately, the reputation of her business. SiteLock worked with Rochelle to address the malware quickly and within a few hours, her site was free of malware and no longer redirecting.

“I got my website back. I was finally able to stop trying to figure out why the website kept redirecting. The team at SiteLock quickly fixed the problem and were so nice to work with,” Rochelle said.

Rochelle worked with a SiteLock Website Security Consultant to set up the right proactive solution for her website and make sure the issue didn’t happen again. Together they selected SiteLock_®SMART™ and SiteLock_®TrueShield™ web application firewall (WAF) to protect her website and reputation. Over 200 bots are blocked a day from rochelleinteriors.com by the WAF which provides the first line of defense against cyberattacks. In the off chance an attacker is able to break through the WAF layer or exploit a website vulnerability, SMART will scan the over 7600 files on the site daily and automatically remove the malicious content.

“SiteLock saved me from future embarrassing moments with awkward redirects. I now receive timely reports that my site has been checked providing peace of mind that my site is secure,” says Rochelle. When asked if there was one piece of advice she could give other website owners who do not have website security she states, “Get it before they get you!”

SiteLock offers a suite of comprehensive and affordable website security solutions to ensure that your website stays free of malware. Check out more SiteLock reviews to see how we have helped other businesses like yours.