Defacement Sitewall

What is defacement

1) What is Defacement?

Defacement refers to unauthorized or unexpected changes made to the visible content of your website or web application. This can include:

  • Replacing your homepage or other pages with unauthorized text or images

  • Adding malicious content such as spam, propaganda, or offensive material

  • Injecting hidden links or scripts without your knowledge

Such changes can negatively impact your brand reputation, compromise user trust, and even pose security risks to your visitors.

2) When Will I Receive a Defacement Alert?

You will receive a defacement alert when:

  1. SiteWALL continuously monitors your application for content integrity based on a trusted baseline.

  2. If any deviation or unexpected modification is detected on the monitored pages, an alert is immediately triggered.

  3. These alerts notify you that changes have occurred — either due to authorized updates or potential unauthorized activity.

3) What Should I Do When I Receive a Defacement Alert?

When you receive a defacement alert from SiteWALL, here’s what you should do:

1. Review the Detected Changes

  • Carefully examine the content changes flagged in the alert.

  • SiteWALL highlights the modified sections, making it easier for you to verify what exactly has changed.

2. Determine if the Change is Legitimate

  • If the changes were expected (e.g., content updates, image replacements, new UI changes), you should mark them as safe.

  • If the changes were not made by your team, treat it as a potential security incident and investigate further.

3. Update the Baseline (if changes are legitimate)

  • Once verified, update the defacement baseline within the SiteWALL dashboard.

  • This ensures that future alerts only trigger for truly unexpected or unauthorized changes.

4. Take Action if It’s Unauthorized

  • If the defacement is unauthorized, immediately:

    • Revert the changes on your site.

    • Investigate how the modification occurred (e.g., compromised credentials, vulnerability exploited).

    • Contact your security team or reach out to us for assistance.

5. Reach Out if Unsure

  • If you're uncertain about the alert or need help reviewing the changes, contact our support team at support@pagentra.com. We're here to help.

4) How to view defacement alert for your application --> KB

5) How to update baseline for defacement --> KB