At this point, we can suspect that it was some vulnerability in Magento or one of the third-party extensions that allowed it to infect thousands of sites within a short time, - Denis Sinegubko
Remember this period which then turned into the worst nightmare for Sucuri developers and Google had to backlist 8100+ Magento websites instantly.
eCommerce platforms are already a goldmine of data for the hackers and the power-pact Magento is more lucrative amongst all.
Magento is likely to get attacked by website malware, blacklists, phishing, defacements, SEO spam and more. You need to take immediate actions as soon as the breach is reported. Hijackers tend to inject malicious scripts which seize user data from the website creating a mess for Magento development.
Also Read: Shopify for ecommerce
No doubt that the platform itself is extensively secured but owing to its popularity, is more likely to get hacked. It releases security patches, timely updates ensuring that the unauthorized user doesn’t take undue advantage.
The sanctity of the platform can only be maintained if you keep an eye on the recent releases and commit towards the updates.
Loopholes, weak connections are music to the ears of attackers and are the factors responsible for creating chaos.
A reminder to store owners, do not overlook the security of the Magento store, once you start earning. If you do, there are chances you may get targeted.
Malware aka malicious software can be removed from your store by following below-mentioned practices.
Removing Malicious Scripts from the site
It would be the best practice to back up your files so that you can restore the settings in case of any emergencies.
It’s not a Do It Yourself task, and we advise taking help from an expert or Magento Ecommerce development company.
Next step is to scan regularly for any Magento Malware; You can use MageReport or check out any official tool for scanning. This will enable you to identify the unapplied patches or even the presence of any malware script in the site.
Install Missing Patches
What will you do once you know the missing patches after scanning? With an obvious answer, you would install them all right!
You need to download the community patches and keep the Magento store on the testing environment.
Remove all unauthorized Admin accounts
No unknown admin user should have access to your Magento store. If found, you should immediately remove them all.
For removing, go to the store’s admin panel >> System >> permission >> users and remove all of them.
After doing this, change the current admin accounts passwords instantly and assign a unique name and ID.
Review SSH and FTP/SFTP users
After securing the Admin level accounts, check the SSH and FTP entry points to ensure that there are no unauthorised users that do not belong to your team.
Watch out for all old, unused and inactive users and remove them. You can further secure it more by changing the passwords of all active users.
Remove unknown JavaScript
The above steps ensure the security of all the entry points. So the next steps show you how will you remove malware code.
Go to your web pages and analyze if any unknown javascript or codes are called up in header or footer. You can do it by following below paths in the admin: System >> configuration >> Design >> HTML Head >> Miscellaneous Scripts .
Repeat the same for doing the Footer activity.
Also Read: Product Listing Optimization
A second verification is important, so scan your site again to find any malware code in the system.
Secure the Admin panel
Once the cleaning procedure is performed at the back end, it is now the right time to check for all possible flaws at the entry system. It would be good if you change the front name of Admin panel and ensure that the URLs are not publicly accessible.
None of the directories and files should have public access
Remove Google warnings
You should note that if your site has been attacked by a virus, Google will blacklist your website. So for getting started again, you should request Google for reviewing your cleaned site.
Getting started again might take a few days for verification. You can also avail other information from the Google developers site.
Perform Regular updates
As Magento is prone to sophisticated invasions and thus releases regular updates so that your store remains upfront on the platform without any breakages. You need to install all the latest Magento versions and the security patches released on the official site to maintain the stability.
Reach out to Professionals
Magento web development services provider in USA always keeps itself updated with the latest insights on Magento. It is always good to reach out to professionals for any type of difficulty faced during remediation of your Magento store.
It is their prime duty to secure your Magento store so that the users have the best possible seamless experience.
Experienced and certified developers know best how to deal with complex attacks. And if you have an in-house team, you can create a site maintenance team of your own.
Keeping PCI Compliance in check
The primary thing you should do to secure your store is to add a firewall. Magento platform offers its own Magento firewalls that you can add to the eCommerce store. You should also secure your HTTPs and add an SSL certificate on the store.
Define a security policy which shall be followed by your team ensuring that your site remains malware free.
Conclusion
We are sure that by following the above steps to secure your website, your store will not face any downtime further. There are possibilities that a remediated store might get attacked by the same malware again if proper security is not ensured.
A compromised Magento site is likely to have long-term damages that can incur theft and financial loss.
It is now the right time to save all your private and sensitive customer’s information like email-IDs, names, addresses, passwords, etc.
We are sure you do not want to damage your reputation any further! We wish you have a healthy Magento store.
