Magento Security

How to Choose a Magento Malware Scanner For Your E-commerce Store?

Updated on: June 20, 2023

How to Choose a Magento Malware Scanner For Your E-commerce Store?

Article Summary

Did you know it takes 192 days on average to discover a hack? Yes, 192. That many days are ample time for a hacker to steal and wipe valuable data from your website without you even suspecting it. By the time a business usually comes to know of a hack, the news already starts doing the rounds. Dealing with the aftermath of a hack is an ugly affair, which I am sure you would not want to get into either.

Did you know it takes 192 days on average to discover a hack? Yes, 192. That many days are ample time for a hacker to steal and wipe valuable data from your website without you even suspecting it. By the time a business usually comes to know of a hack, the news already starts doing the rounds. Dealing with the aftermath of a hack is an ugly affair, which I am sure you would not want to get into either.

Then, what should you do?

Of course, implementing proper Magento security to prevent it is necessary. With that, preparing for a hack in advance is essential too. Scanning your website for malware regularly is another way to do so. Having a malware scanning system reduces response time and saves your website from more damage.

Lucky for you that there are tools available today that make malware scanning a breeze. One of those tools is Astra’s Magento Malware Scanner.

Today I will take you for a tour of the Magento malware scanner by Astra. We will look into its features and learn how to make the most of this scanner to secure your business.

But first, what does a Malware Scanner do.

What is a Malware Scanner?

Malware stands for “Malicious Software”. It is a set of code that is injected into your website by an unauthorized, malicious entity. Malware causes a considerable amount of damage to a website, more so to business. It steals sensitive information, injects phishing links, injects ransomware, creates SEO spam, etc without you realizing it.

Malware is programmed to hide among legitimate files and make copies of itself. So that even when it is detected it is difficult to get rid of the malware completely. Further, the longer a malware is on your website the better the grip it gets on your site. Loosening that grip can be an arduous task for you.

If you could check your website for malware or any ongoing malicious activity as and when it takes place, that would be better. This is where a Magento Malware Scanner comes in.

A Magento Malware scanner is a tool that scans your Magento website’s server files, checks your codes, scans your additional assets (extensions & modules) to flag any malicious activity if there is. An intelligent firewall, on the other hand, does all this and more.

What is an Intelligent Magento Malware Scanner?

Developers at Astra have developed a malware scanning solution that suits a range of e-commerce platforms. Magento is one of them. It detects all the malicious files on your website, tracks file changes, allows you to review those file changes, and even lets you delete that from your server with just a click serving the purpose of one-click malware removal.

Features in the Astra Malware Scanner
An example of the Astra Malware Scanner flagging malicious file

Further, Astra’s Malware Scanner keeps evolving with each attempted hack. On top of that, it is super customizable. You can choose files to scan or to not scan, you can also schedule the scans and get reports right in your inbox.

As one of the most popular e-commerce platform, with 14% of the global market share, Magento qualifies as the desired target. Look at the following Magento stats here:

getastra infograph
Magento stores vulnerability info-graph (Source: Astra Security)

Protecting your Magento store is a responsibility you shouldn’t overlook. While Astra provides 360-degree protection to e-commerce websites like Magento, its malware scanner ensures that no malicious activity goes unnoticed and undetected.

Astra’s Magento malware scanner protects your Magento website from the infection of malware.

Related read: 14 best Magento security plugins (2020)

What to Look for in a Magento Malware Scanner?

Although there is an abundance of Magento malware scanners in the market, the right one is hard to find. Here’s what you should look for in a Magento malware scanner.

1. Malware Flagging

The malware scanner scans from a wide database of known malware signatures. If the program detects a file matching the definition of the malware, it flags it as potential malware. The database of malware definition is constantly updated with signatures of newly discovered malware. However, apart from malware flagging, the program also detects a backdoor that could cause future malware infection.

2. Malware Removal

A malware found on the system needs to be removed. Many threats are deleted by the program but some malware has a complex nature and attaches themselves to core files. Such malware should also be detected and removed. Removing those files could cause your website to malfunction or even crash. Such files should be quarantined so that they do not cause more harm and can be removed manually with expert’s guidance

3. Resource optimization

Many malware scanners suck up the resources and burden your system. This slows down your website. It is important to make sure that the dog doesn’t bite the master. Magento malware scanner shouldn’t affect the Magento website’s performance.

4. Security beyond malware signature matching

Heuristics is a form of anti-malware program that analyzes malware behavior and characteristics in real-time in addition to relying on the knowledge of malware definitions, or signatures. Heuristics in the Magento malware scanner provides an additional layer of security by enabling the program to detect and remove potential threats that were not detected in prior scans.

5. Easy to use

Usability is a less obvious but important feature of a Magento malware scanner. All good features of the scanner seem burdensome if the user has to put in a lot of effort in running the program. With Astra’s Magento Malware Scanner, you get an easy to use dashboard with real-time, graphical, threat analysis for better understanding of the threat.

6. Support System

Even though a malware scanner is a virtual solution, it has to have good support. In the end, it is humans who we connect to not the software. Behind the virtual program, there should be a human, who is ready to listen to your concerns and solve your problems.

Astra Malware scanner: An overview

Astra has tailor-made plug-ins for different CMS platforms. As the hackers are finding new gateways to insert malware into your websites, Astra is revamping its security solutions to provide the best possible security to your business.

Here are some features that Astra Magento malware scanner offers:

  1. Astra’s malware scanner is powered by a machine learning algorithm that detects early signs of a malware
  2. Its intelligent scanning detects hidden and encrypted malware
  3. You can schedule scans with this scanner so that the process is further automated.
  4. It also facilitates one-click removal of infected files from the dashboard itself.
  5. Astra’s Magento scanner detects all malware, back doors & core file changes on your website without affecting the speed of your website in any way
  6. Astra’s Magento malware scanner is community-powered. It is reinforced by the collective intelligence of security experts all around the globe
  7. This malware scanner is ever-evolving. It keeps you safe from any new malware that might be doing rounds on the internet.
  8. Intuitive reports with real-time visualization of results make everything super simple.
Magento malware scanner
Astra malware scanner

Apart from malware scanning, Astra offers ‘Health Scan’- that scans your website for other security factors like – Header security, HTTP security, Cookie security, etc. The Astra malware scanner is coupled with a firewall and security audit to keep you at the top of your security game.

Aakanchha Keshri

Aakanchha is a technical writer and a cybersecurity enthusiast. She is an avid reader, researcher, and an active contributor to our blog and the cybersecurity genre in general. To date, she has written over 200 blogs for more than 60 domains on topics ranging from technical to promotional. When she is not writing or researching she revels in a game or two of CS: GO.
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Our suite of security products include a vulnerability scanner, firewall, malware scanner and pentests to protect your site from the evil forces on the internet, even when you sleep.

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