Magento Hacked? The Ultimate Guide to Recovery and Protection

Do you suspect that your Magento store has been hacked or compromised and are in search of a quick solution to take care of it?

At this point, you’re surely worried if it’s affecting your store data and customer data. All you seek is security.

And yes, it happens to online businesses often. Well, let us assure you that with the right strategies and methods, you can not only recover your site quickly but also make it live again and more secure than ever before.

This blog post is here to help with that.

It will also help you understand if your store has been hacked, how to clean a hacked store, and further tips on how to secure your Magento store, along with a few security extension recommendations.

So, let’s get into the meat of the discussion quickly.

Magento Hacked: Symptoms and Consequences

If your Magento store is hacked, numerous symptoms will tell you something is not right. It could be some complaints from your customers or a few redirects that you have no idea about.

Checking for these signs with a keen eye and attention to detail can save your business from huge consequences down the line.

Potential Symptoms

There are the common symptoms that may lead you to believe that your store has been hacked:

1. Your hosting provider suspended your store.
2. Search engines, like Google, blacklisted your store.
3. You are constantly losing money despite making sales.
4. The login database shows rogue admins for your store.
5. You see forms on your checkout pages that you didn’t add.
6. Your customers complain of stolen credit/debit card details.
7. Your admin panel has changed or shows a blank screen.
8. Your store unexpectedly slows down and shows errors.
9. You see a variety of malicious redirects on your store.
10. Your store appears in Google for spam keywords (Pharma, Japanese, etc.).

Potential Consequences

The symptoms that we have just discussed also lead to several consequences that you can see on your website. From compromises in performance to drops in search ranks and traffic, the consequences can be numerous.

Here are the top consequences of your store being hacked:

1. Your store data may be sold to competitors on onion sites.
2. Your traffic declines for unknown reasons.
3. Your SEO efforts don’t have positive results.
4. Users not visiting your site due to trust issues.
5. Your sales and revenue from the store declined.
6. Data theft from your store using JavaScript for phishing pages.

All of these are challenging for you as an online merchant who depends on your search traffic and users’ trust. And it could be devastating for your business.

But are there any ways to recover after being hacked? Of course, there are. Let’s discuss what you can do to clean up your store after being hacked in the next section.

How to Clean a Hacked Magento (1x & 2x) Store?

Clearing your hacked Magento store requires a systemic and strategic approach. The idea is to keep to store safe and secure without any changes while purging any and all traces and effects of the hack.

However, it is always good to have an expert by your side when trying to fix your Magento store after being hacked. Trying to fix your store without proper technical knowledge can lead to more unexpected problems and issues for your store. If you need help, contact our Magento security support team, who can help you with fixing your store.

Now, let’s go through these steps one by one here.

Step #1. Take Your Magento Store Offline

Immediately disable your store to block hackers’ access. This keeps them from causing more damage while you fix issues. It also prevents customers from seeing a broken or compromised website during repairs.

It will also stop the bad actors from accessing your site more and making more changes to hurt your site even more.

Hence, this is the first thing you need to do.

Step #2. Change All Admin Passwords

All your previous passwords and access details were compromised when your store was hacked. Hence, it is vital to change all the admin passwords as quickly as possible.

Also, when creating new ones, make strong passwords for every admin account. Use letters, numbers, and symbols. This locks out attackers and ensures they can’t return.

A password change should be your first move after spotting a breach and taking your site offline.

Step #3. Review Server and File Integrity

Understanding your server and file integrity is vital to see if you have any unwanted files there.

Check server files for changes, unknown folders, or strange scripts. Look for files that don’t belong. This step reveals if hackers planted harmful code or altered your store’s core files.

Removing these files is vital to keep your store protected when you come online again.

Step #4. Scan Your Store for Malware and Viruses

Hackers often get access to your store using malware or viruses. Hence, you must scan them to identify and remove them from your store.

Run a full scan using trusted security tools. These scans detect harmful files and suspicious activity. Finding viruses early keeps your store safe from long-term damage and future cyberattacks.

Purging these unwanted files and viruses will cut the access of hackers to your store.

Step #5. Remove Malware or Malicious Files

Often, when hackers gain access to your store, they infect your codes, files, and scripts with viruses. And some of them may be hard to remove.

In such cases, the best way is to delete any harmful code, scripts, or infected files. This will clean the store’s system from all those viruses and prevent further damage.

Leaving these files as they are can cause data loss, slower performance, or even another attack.

Step #6. Apply All the Latest Magento Security Patches and Updates

Another vital step to take is to keep your Magento platform updated with all the latest security and other releases.

These patches fix bugs and close security holes. Hackers target outdated sites, so staying updated keeps your store safer from future attacks and performance issues.

Many merchants fail to do this regularly, leading to security vulnerabilities that hackers may exploit.

Step #7. Restore Your Store with a Clean Backup

Now that you have done most of the cleanup, it is time to restore the store.

And you must recover your site using a malware-free backup. A clean backup ensures you won’t restore compromised files. Doing so will also purge any other elements that may have been affected due to the hack.

This lets you restart fresh and prevents recurring problems caused by hidden threats.

Step #8. Secure the Server and Database

Your servers are a vital part of your store and its security. Hence, improve the server settings and enable top-notch firewalls. Protect databases with extra security layers like IP restrictions.

This keeps hackers out, safeguarding customer data and sensitive business details from future breaches.

These firewalls will make it hard for any hacking attempts to succeed.

Step #9. Change API Keys and Payment Gateway Credentials

API keys and payment gateway credentials can also be compromised with a hack.

Reset all API keys, payment gateways, and linked account details. Hackers may have copied these. Changing them prevents fraud, ensuring safe payment processing and secure third-party system integration.

It will also prevent hackers from getting to your store with previously acquired keys or credentials.

Step #10. Conduct a Full Security Audit of Your Magento Store

Conducting a full security audit of your Magento store is also vital to keep your store safe and secure.

Work with a Magento security support team and perform a complete security check of every part of your store. Look for system gaps, risky plugins, and access logs.

A full audit identifies weak spots that need immediate attention.

Step #11. Monitor Your Store Activity After the Recovery

Once you have recovered and made your store online, the next vital step is to monitor the activities of your store.

Keep track of all site activity using a monitoring tool. Watch for unusual traffic or login attempts. Regular monitoring helps catch threats early and keeps your site safe after recovery.

It will also help you identify any vulnerabilities that may creep into your store and address them quickly.

These steps will help you recover from a Magento hack. However, what can you do to prevent this from even happening?

Well, there are several strategies you can use. And let’s discuss the most important ones in the next section.

Tips to Secure Your Magento Store

Keeping your Magento store secure is the first step in protecting your store from being hacked or infected with malware. You can do this in several ways yourself or with the help of a Magento support and maintenance team.

Here are a few tips that we often suggest our clients follow to not only keep their Magento store secure but also in top-notch performance.

Let’s quickly discuss each of them here.

1. Regularly update the Magento platform

Update your Magento store often to fix bugs and add features. Magento releases these updates to help stores close security gaps and keep hackers out. The updates also bring in the latest security technologies for your store.

Apart from adding security, Magento updates help improve store performance and UX.

2. Host your site in a secure space

Pick a hosting provider who takes the security of your store seriously. They must offer you adequate firewalls, malware scans, and backups. A secure host blocks hackers, keeps your site perform reliably, and ensures data stays safe.

A secure host that takes care of your store’s security helps build trust with your users and partners.

3. Change your default admin URL

Hackers often target standard admin URLs, which many Magento merchants fail to update. Replace the default admin URL with something unique, and it will prevent hackers from accessing the admin login page. Having a custom admin URL makes it harder for attackers.

When they cannot find the login page, it would be impossible for them to access your store’s backend.

4. Backup your store data often

Taking regular backups of your store data is essential for your store’s security. Backing up data helps you protect store data, including orders and customer info. If hacked, you can restore everything fast since you have the backup data available.

Backups also reduce downtime and prevent permanent data loss after unexpected site failures.

5. Restrict access by IP address

Often malicious parties will use specific IPs for their activities. Limiting access to your admin panel to trusted IP addresses can help you keep these bad actors at bay. This security step blocks unknown visitors from entering your store’s backend.

Doing this will also reduce the chance of unauthorized access and data breaches.

6. Use HTTPS encryption

This is one of the easiest things you can do to protect your site from hacking. Adding an SSL certificate to your store enables HTTPS. This encrypts data shared between your site and users, protecting payment details and personal info.

It will guard your store from attacks and improve Magento SEO and customer trust.

7. Add secure payment gateways

Secure payment gateways are a must for online stores like Magento. Hence, make it a point to integrate reliable payment gateways like PayPal or Stripe. These platforms secure financial transactions using top-level encryption, reducing fraud and chargebacks.

It would also be impossible to steal customer payment details from these payment gateways as they are safe.

8. Install trusted extensions only

You need to use a range of extensions often to expand the functionalities of your Magento store. It is a necessity for more stores. However, while doing so, add extensions from verified developers only.

Trusted plugins are tested for security and updated regularly to avoid any vulnerabilities that hackers may exploit.

9. Use reCAPTCHA for security

reCAPTCHA is an effective way to prevent automated attacks on your store. And you can do it quite easily. Hence, enable Google reCAPTCHA on login, sign-up, and checkout pages. It blocks spam bots and fake users by requiring human verification.

This added security measure strengthens your store’s defense against automated attacks. As hackers often use bots to attack sites, reCAPTCHA can effectively fend them off.

10. Choose a safe hosting provider

Since you store all your Magento store data, files, and other customer information on the hosting server, it is vital to choose a safe provider. Pick a hosting provider that offers built-in protection like malware scans, backups, and firewalls.

Secure hosting keeps your site safe and reduces service interruptions. It can also boost customer confidence in your store’s reliability.

11. Use strong login details

This one is a no-brainer. Strong login credentials make it tough for hackers to break into your store. Always create strong and complex passwords using letters, numbers, and symbols.

Make sure that you also avoid common phrases. Enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) is another great way for extra protection.

These tips need you to work on them yourself, and you may often need the help of a third-party agency. However, there are also extensions that can help you with the same.

Let’s check out a few such extensions in the next section.

Top Magento 2 Security Extensions

Using extensions to ensure the complete security of your Magento 2 store from diverse attacks, such as hacking, malware, viruses, etc., is one of the most effective ways.

However, it is often hard to find reliable and high-performing extensions that can meet your needs. But don’t worry, we have got you covered.

Here are three top Magento 2 security extensions that we urge our clients to use to ensure 24×7 protection for their online stores.

#1 — Security Suite for Magento 2 by Amasty

Security Suite for Magento 2 by Amasty is one of the best security extensions in the market for Magento 2 stores.

It offers 24×7 comprehensive protection for your website and ensures that it is safe from a range of security issues, including hacking, viruses, malware, and other security challenges.

It provides you with all the support you need to take care of all internal and external elements of your store’s security. It is also customizable to meet your daily needs to ensure the security of the store.

Features of Security Suite for Magento 2

The security suite also comes with a range of benefits to your store, such as given below:

1. Offers access to 4 top Magento security plugins in the suite.
2. GIves a full picture of all your store’s admin activities.
3. Sends notifications about suspicious login activities.
4. Manages user permissions on the Magento store.
5. Sets up two-step authentification on your store.
6. Available on Hyva, as it is compatible by default.

Pricing Plans

Security Suite for Magento 2 is available in four different plans for different Magento editions.

• Magento Community: US $419
• Magento Enterprise: US $719
• Magento Cloud: US $1,019

#2 — Magento 2 Security Extension by Mageplaza

The Magento 2 Security Extension by Mageplaza is one of the most preferred security extensions for Magento 2 stores.

It offers comprehensive security support to your Magento store from a variety of security vulnerabilities and attacks, such as brute-force attacks, break-in attempts, etc. The extension monitors your site for diverse security issues and alerts you if someone tries to break into the store so that you can take necessary steps to prevent the same.

It also allows you to track suspicious login attempts by tracking the ID, Username, time, URL, browser agent, etc.

Features of Magento 2 Security Extension by Mageplaza

The Magento 2 Security Extension by Mageplaza offers a variety of features and benefits to your store.

Let’s discuss a few of the most important ones.

1. Captures login attempts with the extension’s login logs.
2. Offers a security checklist to identify vulnerable elements.
3. Prevents unauthorized access to prevent brute force attacks.
4. Blocks login attempts with away mode when admins are away.
5. Records and tracks all admin activities with an action log tool.
6. Catches file changes to identify suspicious actions on the site.
7. Works perfectly with the Hyva theme without hassles.

Pricing Plans

The Magento 2 Security Extension by Mageplaza is available under two plans and has an installation fee of US $50.

• Standard

• Magento Community: US $99
• Magento Enterprise: US $299
• Professional

• Magento Community: US $149
• Magento Enterprise: US $349

#3 — Magento 2 Security Extension by Webkul

The Magento 2 Security Extension by Webkul is a popular security extension for Magento 2 stores. It helps merchants detect and prevent cyber-attacks to keep their Magento stores secure. It blocks unwanted file uploads, alerts admins of suspicious activities, and allows IP blacklisting.

You can get instant email notifications for malware uploads and unauthorized login attempts. The tool supports Two-Step Authentication and email verification to stop fake registrations.

With DDoS Firewall Protection, the extension prevents server overload caused by malicious traffic. Store owners can also track failed login attempts and report abusive IPs to Abuse IPDB.

Features of Magento 2 Security Extension by Webkul

1. Notifies the admin of unrecognized login attempts.
2. Allows admin to reset sub-user passwords.
3. Blocks specific file types from uploads.
4. Allows admin to control IP-based access.
5. Secures logins with QR codes and OTPs.
6. Tracks and warns of repeated login failures.
7. Restricts access from specific countries globally.

Pricing Plans

Magento 2 Security Extension by Webkul is available for different periods, such as three months, six months, and one year. Apart from the service cost, there is an installation fee of US $39.80.

• Magento Open-source: US $298.50/year
• Adobe Commerce (On-premise): US $597/year
• Adobe Commerce (Cloud): US $597/year

Keep Your Magento Store Safe with Smart Strategies

The safety of your Magento store is vital for the data security and sustainability of your business. If you suspect that your store is hacked or compromised, you need to address the issue with great attention and care. Responding to the crisis with a strategy will help you reduce the impact of the damage and get started on the recovery efforts.

While it is great to start working on recovering your site and getting it back online, having an expert by your side is paramount. Your site may be more trouble than you realize and the experts would already have experience and technical skills to help you out. Working with reliable agencies with years of experience in the field in offering Magento support and maintenance services can help you take care of your site without any damage.

At Aurelate Labs, we offer comprehensive and quick Magento store recovery and security maintenance services. With a team of Magento and cybersecurity experts, we can meet all your store protection needs.

Contact us to get a free consultation.