What To Do When Someone Steals Your Website?

Oh no! Someone stole your content. How do you contact the perpetrator?

If you are in business, you surely have a website. What if someone stole your site from you? Someone could control your domain name and who knows what else could transpire. From there, the criminal can now control everything in your site including its content. It could be rerouted to any location the perpetrator/s chooses.

Getting back your site is no easy task, but if you really work hard for it, then the fight could be all worth it. Here are the steps of what to do, if it does happen to you.

• Take a look at the email address of the offending website. If that is not workable, just go to WHO IS to know who registered the offending website. WHO IS  will provide you the website’s owner, and other pertinent information. Jot down all the contact information.
• You should also find out who hosted the offending website. You can check it out by using WHO IS HOSTING THIS. Communicate with them because no respectable company will tolerate piracy.
• Make use of Way Back Machine to review the past reviews on your site. This is a proof that you have been around longer than the offending website.
• Provide a link to Google Cache to inform that Google Spiders found your content earlier than the offending site.
• Do take screenshots of the materials stolen from you is another proof. If the whole site was stolen, it is wise to save the source code for future comparison.
• Aside from taking screenshots, take note of the dates that the users made a comment on your blog to answer the original post. Gather all possible proofs and evidence. Do not forget to have your MySQL records. Get all the original and unedited graphics and images including the file date. Put together all backups of your site in the past which should include the modified dates.

After all the steps has been accomplished, contact the perpetrator. It is a good move to let the person know that you know that he or she has done a big mistake. And the reason for this are:

• To inform the person about the theft.
• Tell the person to modify, make correction, remove and then ask for a fair compensation.
• Keep the line of communication open between you.
• Make sure that the person knows that you have all the necessary information.
• Mention that there is a paper trail of evidence to prove your authenticity.

When talking to the perpetrator, retain a professional tone and attitude even if the person is a bit hostile or defensive. Listen to the person’s side of the story. Never make a threat but just continue being professional. You gain the upper-hand when you do not show your anger. If everything else fails, seek for legal counsel.

To avoid the same thing in the future, make sure to have a stronger password. Change it whenever necessary. Choose a dependable antivirus software and often scan your computer for spywares. Get a Cyber Risk Insurance too. Prevention is better than cure.