What is Website Malware Scan?

Malware scan is a process of examining the website to detect cyberthreats that steal or casue harm to a wesite

Website Malware Scan | Free Website Security Checker

What is Malware?

Malware is software that has been designed to steal data, damage gadgets, and negatively affect the normal operations of your website. There are different types of Malware that include; spyware, Trojans, Viruses, and ransom ware. Often, Malware is developed by hackers to make money by auctioning it on the Dark Web or spreading it themselves.

Why Hackers Infect Your Site With Malware?

Hackers may inject your website with malware for different reasons that are hardly associated with your website. By hacking your website, cybercriminals want to cause your visitors harm and also use it for various illegal activities. They may also want to use your platform to send phishing or spam emails from your domain.

Malware can also be used as ammunition of war between governments, a way to evaluate security, and as an appliance of protest. Often, hackers distribute malware to other sites that use a similar web server as you do. Malware is spread through various methods which include:

Hidden iframe
Phishing emails
Outdated plugins and themes,
DDOS attacks
Brute-force attacks, and
Drive-by downloads

Hackers inject malware in different places on your website and make it hard to find. This explains why scanning for malware is a difficult task.

Types of Malware scanners

1. Spam Scan

IP addresses and Websites that are recorded in spam blacklist directories can have their emails directed to the spam folders of their recipients. In some cases, these emails are even blocked. A spam scan is designed to prevent your website from being listed in a blacklist database by:

Scanning domain name and site's IP address against numerous spam databases
Alerting you immediately a problem is detected. This enables you to fix it before it is distributed to your recipients
Sending you alerts to “harmful neighbor” blocks. What happens if a website uses the same IP address with another domain dispatching spam within a common hosting platform? Often, all websites within that IP address are blocked

2. Cross-site Scripting (XSS) & SQL Injection (SQLi) Scan

Cross-site scripting and SQL injection exposures are popularly used by hackers to obtain illegal access to a website. Web Inspector analyzes exposures and alerts you immediately once anything harmful is detected. We scan your website for SQLi and XSS exposures.

3. Application Scan

Web Inspector's application scan analyzes a server's principal applications which include database, operating system, and language versions such as MySQL and PHP. Our experts will:

Scan your web hosting environment monthly
Examine for potential exposures in application versions and operating systems

Should any problem be detected, you will be alerted immediately. This gives you sufficient time to reach your hosting provider to guarantee that your site is hosted in a secure environment.

Website Malware Scan Features

Choosing the best anti-malware software for your needs can be a difficult task. Understanding the features of good quality anti-malware software prevents you from investing in ineffective software. Here are the features of good quality software should:

Be cloud-based
Come with a robust antivirus
Have a sandbox
Have a firewall
Conduct heuristic analysis
Come with file-less malware protection
Have signature-based detection

Is My Website Hacked?

Is your website behaving strangely? Perhaps you have noticed malicious ADS OR SPAM CONTENT. Do you have problems viewing your WordPress Website? Has Google barred visitors from accessing your website?

If you answered any of these questions in the affirmative, chances are that your website has been hacked. Further, it may have remained infected for a long time for search engines such as Google to notice. Once hackers invade your website they can cause significant damage which slows down your site.

Symptoms of a Hacked Website

Here are some of the signs to watch out for.

Popups on sites that neither you nor your team created
Spam ads on your site displaying gambling, drugs, adult content, and other prohibited activities
Your site redirects to a strange site
Your website appearing in the list of spam keywords on various SEO tools
Your web host has notified you that your website has been infected with malware
Visitors to your site are getting blocked by Google with caution alerts like “the site ahead is infected with malware”
The site takes long to load and sometimes fails to load
Your web host shuts down your site
The site is blacklisted by blacklisting services

While these symptoms indicate that your site may be hacked, it is good to first confirm whether or not your site is hacked. You can do with a website malware scanner designed to detect malicious activity automatically. Avoid checking for malware manually because it is a risky process. Doing so means you will be interfering with your website's folders and files.

Malicious Script Detection

Web Inspector's website monitoring scanner is designed to recognize malicious links and code in scripts on your web application and website. Web Inspector downloads and scans such files for malware like backdoors, Trojans, and spyware.

We detect malware with popular scanning engines. In Microsoft Windows, for instance, Web Inspector leverages the inbuilt Microsoft Defender while on Linux we incorporate ClamAV antivirus software. It is worth mentioning that while these anti-malware tools are ideal, removing malware from your web assets is best done manually.

What Happens if Malware is Detected on My Website?

If you are not experienced in malware removal you may want to outsource the service to a security professional. The ideal alternative would be using a website malware scanner that examines your website every day and removes malware automatically. If you are a developer or skilled in malware removal, chances are that you will want to remove the malware manually. Here is what you should know when removing malware.

Determine the Source

You can accomplish this through a local file search, file manager, or command line. Many web hosts provide file managers but these are usually developed for basic file changes. They may not be ideal for distinct content searches.

A local search includes downloading the details of your website to your personal computer, which simplifies the search process. Obtaining admission to a command line in a shared hosting environment is uncommon. However, having it helps you perform a more detailed search. What's more, it can help you identify files that have been modified recently including particular content in your files.

Search for the Suitable Indications

Once you identify the files you suspect have been injected with malware, look keenly for prevalent syntax that attackers use. Be on the lookout for any of the PHP code snippets listed below.

Eval
fromCharCode
Base64_decode,
Gzinflate
Gshell_execlobals
error_reporting()

These are but a few of the numerous functions that modern hackers use. However, they are commonly found in various PHP hacks.

Clear the Malware

After establishing corrupt files on your website, proceed to clear them. Manual removal of malware is important, but conducting a website malware scan is fast and more precise.

The Web Inspector Smart scanner is designed to automate malware recognition and removal. It leverages a file transfer practice scan option to download, examine, and clear your website files. It will then re-upload the files to the host server without affecting user experience.

What Does Blacklisted Mean?

When a website is blacklisted, it means that various anti-virus companies and search engines have declared the site insecure to visit. There are various ways of determining whether your site has been blacklisted. For instance, you may notice a drastic drop in website traffic. Google leverages particular algorithms and updates them regularly. When web crawlers label and classify anything insecure, they add the sites in the Google blacklist.

Need for Malware Scanner

A malware scanner is a must-have tool for all website owners. It is designed to safeguard the computer and files against different types of malware. It offers real-time security to counter malware infection. It's the anti-malware that executes malware scans on the computer to identify viruses and other threats that may be hidden on the computer.

Best Malware Scanning Tools

Web Inspector

Web Inspector is a cloud-based online security scanning tool that examines a WordPress website in two ways. These are Comodo analyst's files and Google Safe Browsing. It also evaluates malware downloads and any infected code that displays worm, Trojan virus, and suspicious records and texts. It comes with PCI compliance that monitors e-Commerce websites designed to receive credit card payments.

Features

Examines a website against SSL Certifications, Blacklist checking, and any malicious code
PCI scanning that enhances website security
Instant alerts sent when malware is detected which keeps your website safe
Recognizes SQL injection to boost database security

Indusface WAS Free Website Security Check

Indusface WAS offers manual penetration verification and comes with an automated web application exposure scanner. The scanner recognizes and reports exposures. It also features a website reputation analysis of malware, links, and defacement evaluations of the website in each scan.

Features

Modern crawler to scan through single-page based applications
Manual access testing and publishing the findings on the dashboard
Unrestricted proof of concept requisitions to provide proof of reported exposures and eradicate Incorrect positive from automated scan reports
Pause and resume
Examine for malware infection, broken links, defacement, and the stature of the links in the site
Ability to augment crawl coverage automatically depending on actual traffic data derived from the WAF systems
Optional unification with the Indusface WAS to offer fast virtual reinforcement with no false positive
Free trial with an extensive single scan without requiring a credit card
24/7 support to discuss POC (proof of consent) and remediation guidelines

Site Guarding

Site Guarding is designed to monitor your website daily. The team behind this site offers 24/7 support. When a problem is detected, the team makes all the necessary enhancements to ensure that your website is running smoothly. Site Guarding offers an ideal website security solution to keep your website secure.

Features

Logical laboratory and virus monitoring service
Remove websites from blacklists manually
Round the clock specialized support from security professionals
Security tools that can work on multiple servers such as VPS, shared, dedicated, web applications, and any custom developed and CMS websites.

Sucuri SiteCheck

SiteCheck from Sucuri is an online site scanning tool that analyzes a site to determine any identified malicious text, malware, risk, or blacklist status. You can use this tool without having to register. It also provides resources to reclaim a hacked website. Sucuri is ideal when it comes to susceptibility inspecting and web security. With Sucuri you can scan any website designed in HTML/CSS, and WordPress

Features

Easy configuration that is compatible with custom SSL certificates
Sufficient Brute force protection and DDoS protection
Secure from XSS, SQL injections, RFU, RCE, and verified worms
High-speed Anycast network with PoP's located throughout the world
Available free of charge. Basic plan costs $199.99 annually

Google Malware Checker

Google Malware Checker helps identify malware and suspicious content on a site. This tool is easy to use. All you need is to paste your website URL and it will display all reports on the website. The Google Checker tool offers intelligent malware recognition software that facilitates malicious texts and worms on different websites. This is an online-based tool that displays reports to website owners regarding the detected malware.

Features

Comes with inbuilt DDoS Protection
Can scan any media files and plugins
Features WordPress Page Login hardening
Clears the previously displayed website from hosting immediately malware is cleared from the website

Fighting Malware is a Never-ending Battle

If you own a website it is important to understand that battling malware is a constant activity. To reduce your risk you should focus on preventing exposure on your website's code, because hackers often test weak access points.

You do not need a programming background to protect your site against malware. All you need is to install patches and updates regularly. Adopt an automated patching system to make this process easier.

Always use plug-ins that you need the most and uninstall the ones you hardly use. Adopt an exposure scanner to help detect areas where you need to improve on automatically. If you leverage a content management system to augment your website, ensure the exposure scanner you choose can patch exposures automatically.

Always have a website application firewall. This will help bar malicious bots that hackers use to identify potential points of entry.