Many websites that have survived hacker attacks or virus infections no longer work properly or even function at all. However, disabling Internet platforms is only one of the goals of virus writers. More often than not, malware is designed to steal content or user information to sell or simply blackmail.

The appearance of spyware on a website is a sign of an attack or infection. From that moment on, all the information posted on the website, including confidential or exclusive information, is at risk.  And then, it can easily be stolen, deleted, or copied in the future.

On top of that, fraudsters' access to the program code will make it easy to disrupt or even completely block the site's functionality. The situation is made even more challenging by the fact that there are many viruses on the network that cling to unprotected sites without any reason and make the work of administrators much more difficult.

How does a virus get on a website?

It will be possible to create reliable protection for an online resource only when all possible ways of virus penetration are securely closed or filtered. Experts identify several main ways:

- Content management system. The CMS script itself may have vulnerabilities that allow fraudsters to gain access to the admin panel, plugins, site files, or the database. The malicious code can get into the CMS through the form of uploading any files, SQL injection, or through an XSS attack. But all these cases of infection are mostly the result of the site administrator's negligence in updating the resource management system. Obviously, CMS developers try to respond quickly to threats and constantly improve built-in security systems, offering them along with the next service packs. Timely replacement of old versions of the code with new ones will help to protect against viruses that try to enter the site through the CMS.

- Hacking the administrator password. Password generators did not appear by chance: they have become a worthy response to hackers engaged in brute-force attacks, i.e. the selection of the desired combination of characters using special programs. Once again, it is the responsibility of the website administrator, who must remember that unreliable, simple, short passwords are no longer a problem for experienced fraudsters. After all, as soon as a hacker gets into the admin panel, he can upload any malicious code to the site. 

- Infected plugins and templates. This is another common way of infecting a website with a virus, which again makes an unscrupulous administrator “guilty”. Spyware codes are most often found in free or frankly cheap modules. And this is not surprising, because a quality product should deliberately guarantee the absence of viruses, that is, it should be tested before sale and, importantly, provide update packages that would help to cope with new viruses, as in the case of any antivirus program. 

- The hosting server. If it is hacked and infected with a virus, all websites hosted on it will automatically become infected. The owners of the facilities allocated for storing information are well aware of this, so they necessarily resort to special methods of protecting them.
Of course, the more reliable and efficient these methods are, the more expensive website hosting services become. It follows that saving on hosting always increases the risks of getting a dangerous virus.

Treatment features of infected websites

The fact that a malicious script is present on the site can be realized by the administrator himself, who unexpectedly encounters problems with the resource. The virus can also be reported by the hosting provider or Yandex.Webmaster, which detects spyware based on the results of its own diagnostic algorithm.

What should you do after receiving such news? The most obvious steps are to diagnose the site, find the virus, remove it, repair damaged code sections (if any), update passwords, and ensure more reliable protection of the resource. 

In more detail, the website treatment process can be represented by the following small algorithm of actions, which is suitable only for cases when the administrator has a backup copy of the site: returning a copy of the site to the hosting, test launch, changing passwords, analyzing the cause of the problem and ensuring proper website protection.

If you don't have a backup copy, you will have to go through a longer recovery process:

1. Creating a local copy of the website, which should be subjected to a comprehensive diagnosis for viruses. All files should be checked by special scanners - free or more powerful, which can scan both the file system of the resource and the database. 

2. Based on the report received from the scanners, review the code of each suspicious element. After removing the virus component, each such element must be scanned by antiviruses again. 

3. Restore the file structure. 

4. Cleaning the database. 

5. Test launch of a local copy of the site. 

6. Change access passwords.

After the above steps, it is imperative to analyze the causes of the infection, and based on the conclusions drawn, draw up an action plan to prevent such problems in the future.

About infection prevention

Experts have long developed measures to minimize the likelihood of the virus entering a website. It is strongly recommended for resource administrators: 

• Securely store and regularly change logins and passwords to the control panel.
• Do not forget to use the backup function of your website content.
• Regularly update the CMS management software, use only reliable plugins and do not upload suspicious files to the website. 
• Use high-quality anti-virus programs and always the latest versions of them.
• Use a firewall to filter requests to the website.
• When placing ad units, check the modules provided by advertisers for malicious code.
• Periodically conduct a security audit of the site, monitor user activity, inspect the code, and promptly respond to any threats detected by the hosting security service or Yandex.Webmaster

All these concerns can be entrusted to specialists who provide a comprehensive service for the scheduled diagnostics of an Internet resource, its scanning for viruses and treatment if they are detected.

The frequency of contacting professionals will depend on the type of possible threats, as well as the features, scale, and functionality of the website.

We should not forget that computer viruses continue to improve, and the more frequent scans are performed, the more likely it is that the website will not be infected with a malicious program.