Malware Bytes researchers have identified a new pattern in attacks on Joomla sites. Compromised sites have a link injected in them that appears to load social sharing buttons, but actually delivers malware to users' computers using the Angler exploit kit. In this blog post, we'll look at how the attack works, what makes it unique, and how to check whether your site is affected.

One common symptom of having a hacked Joomla site is unusual slowness. If your site is a little slow, it's not as likely that you've been hacked.  However, if when you load a page you experience a sudden increase in load times of 6 to 20 seconds, it's likely that your site has been compromised. Another symptom that you've been hacked is when the slowness only affects the front of your site and your Joomla control panel loads quickly.

The situation can be a little bit bewildering- what is going on here?!