Protecting websites with Site Scan
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Valid for Web Hosting and ASP.NET Hosting (Windows Hosting).
This article walks you through utilising IONOS' Site Scan and Site Scan & Repair from SiteLock, including navigating the dashboard, checking scan results, and upgrading your package.
Site Scan from SiteLock is a cloud-based service that checks websites for vulnerabilities and malware, similar to antivirus software. The free basic version of Site Scan is already included in all IONOS hosting contracts, and checks your websites daily for threats via an external scan. The paid version Site Scan & Repair also automatically removes malware, closes vulnerabilities, and additionally scans your websites internally via SFTP. If a threat or vulnerability is found, Site Scan automatically informs you by email.
Site Scan is provided by our partner SiteLock. You can view the results in your IONOS account and in the SiteLock dashboard, which IONOS provides together with SiteLock. A separate login is not required.
The differences between Site Scan and Site Scan & Repair are explained in the following article: What is Site Scan and what are its benefits?
View scan results
To access the Site Scan overview in your IONOS account, complete the following:
- Log in to your IONOS account.
- Click on Menu > Security Solutions in the title bar. The Security solutions page opens.
- In the Protect your website from malware tile, click Check projects. If you have multiple web hosting contracts, the Hosting Contracts page opens.
- Optional: If you have multiple web hosting contracts, select the contract you want. The Hosting Overview page opens.
- In the Site Scan tile, click Manage. The Site Scan Overview opens. Here you can see the results of the daily scan for your individual domains. If threats or potential vulnerabilities are found, you will receive further details directly here.
The scan results are displayed in the Site Scan overview in your IONOS account. In this overview, your websites are divided into the following categories:
- Affected websites: Malicious code was found. You should take action immediately here. Either clean up the infected files yourself or upgrade to Site Scan + Repair so that the malicious code is removed automatically.
- Vulnerable websites: No malicious code was found, but the website is not automatically protected. Detected malware and vulnerabilities would not be repaired automatically.
- Protected websites: Site Scan & Repair is active for this website. Threats are automatically eliminated.
Check the status of a domain
To check whether a domain is protected with Site Scan & Repair, click the desired domain name in the Site Scan overview.
Open SiteLock dashboard
The SiteLock dashboard provides an overview of all scans performed on the website/domain and enables a detailed view of the scan results. It is included in both Site Scan and Site Scan & Repair. To open the SiteLock dashboard, complete the following:
- Open the Site Scan overview (see the section View scan results).
- Click Open Dashboard at the top right. Alternatively, you can also find the Open Dashboard button further down on the page in the Opening Your SiteLock Dashboard area.
- The SiteLock dashboard opens in a new window.
The following menu items are displayed on the left side of the dashboard:
Overview: Number of your websites and their status (Healthy, At Risk, Impaired, Compromised).
Sites: This area lists all monitored domains with information about the configuration, health status, and time of the last scan. To open the Security Report or the Messages for a domain, click the Manage button. A page with the Security Report and Messages tabs opens. Then select the desired report results option.
The following results are displayed for each domain in the Security Report tab:
- Email reputation scan
- Security scans
- SMART Patch (only available for Site Scan & Repair)
- SSL Monitor (only available for Site Scan & Repair)
Click on Download Report to save the evaluation. Click the Details button to open the individual results.
Messages: In the Messages area, you can find messages from SiteLock about your domains.
Note
The times in the SiteLock dashboard are displayed in Central Time (CT). This time zone may differ from your local time. In the Sites view, the dashboard indicates the current time difference below the table. For example, “All dates are Central Time (CT). This is currently 1 hour behind your local time.”
Configure notifications for Site Scan
To specify how often you would like to be informed by email about the security recommendations from Site Scan, complete the following:
- Open the Site Scan overview (see the section View scan results).
- At the top right, click the downward-pointing arrow next to the Open Dashboard button. Then select Set notifications. Alternatively, use the Set notifications link at the bottom of the page.
- Select the desired interval: Quarterly, Monthly (default), Weekly, Daily, or Never.
- Click Save.
Note
IONOS will always notify you immediately about critical security risks, regardless of this setting.
Upgrade to Site Scan & Repair
If you want to protect your website with the automatic cleanup features of Site Scan & Repair, you can upgrade to a paid plan in your IONOS account at any time. To do this, complete the following:
- Open the Site Scan overview (see the section View scan results).
- Scroll to the desired domain.
- If the detailed information is not displayed, click the domain name.
- Click the Order full version now link.
- In the order dialog, check the included services and the current terms and conditions.
- Optional: Keep the + SSL Starter checkbox selected if you want to additionally secure an unencrypted domain with an SSL certificate. Please note the different minimum contract term for this add-on product.
- Select the checkbox for the General Terms and Conditions (including cancellation policy) and click Order now! .
Note
To equip multiple websites with the Repair feature, simply repeat this upgrade separately for each additional domain.
What happens after the upgrade?
After the order is placed, Site Scan & Repair is automatically set up for the selected domain. You do not need to configure anything or provide any login details. Once the upgrade is active, the website is counted as a Protected website in the Site Scan overview.
SiteLock uses SFTP access to access the webspace directory to which the domain path of the respective domain points. The internal scans (SMART file scan and SMART Patch) follow this domain path, precisely remove malicious code found there, and close known security vulnerabilities in CMSs such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla directly at the file level. This process runs fully automatically and without any action on your part.