Overdue payment is a popular explanation why the web host suspends the site. You just have to give the web host what you owe and you’ll get your website back. The cause for your website suspension is a compromised website that is similarly popular but less easy to manage.
Yes, it could infect your website. At the cost of your peace of mind, Pantheon itself is defending its server reputation. If the website is hosted in a shared hosting environment, the website can infect several websites. Therefore, allowing such a platform to continue online is not a choice for web hosts. Once web hosts learn that the website is corrupted beyond repair, they first turn it off and then alert you. That you don’t like.
For several factors, this is disturbing, the least of which is that the web host you were relying on removed the rug from around you. Let us help you calm your mind. To have your website restored, there are several steps for you to take immediately. To get both your hosting account and your website back, take a look below.
Next, let’s figure out what a compromised website means about Pantheon. This is what is specified in the terms and conditions of their agreements.
4.9 Security Incidents. If a reported security event is known to him, Pantheon shall advise Subscriber without undue delay and shall provide Subscriber with appropriate details and cooperation to allow Subscriber to meet any reporting obligations for data breaches it might have under the Relevant Data Protection Legislation (and in compliance with the timescales prescribed by it). Furthermore, Pantheon shall take all fairly appropriate steps and measures to fix or minimize the consequences of the security incident and shall keep the Subscriber aware of any material changes related to the security incident.
Many info can be found here.
TL;DR?
Infected Website = Suspended Website
What would you do, then?
Step 1: Contact support
Provide the full URL and the circumstances on the website. Figure out which of the files on the website have been found to be compromised. Check if they have copies of your files. You will recover your copies if they do, or even figure out whether you’ve been compromised.
You can give them a sample email here—
Hi Pantheon,
As shown by the notice on my page, you have suspended my site.
The descriptions of my website are as following:
(Fill in your URL for your website, your Pantheon account, hosting account type, security enhancements, if any, etc.)
Please provide the malicious content on my website with further details so that I can fix it immediately. Do you have my website backups?
Step 2: Assess Extent of Damage
When you are waiting for or talking with Pantheon you will determine the harm in front of you. Were your guests complaining about the illegal advertising on your website before it was shut down? Have you lost any content or access to WP-Admin? This will help you understand more about the essence of the assault that you are facing. It will also help you navigate your post-hack steps easier, in the future.
For eg, once you found out that there is an anonymous user accessing your website back end, you now know that you need to protect it even more because it is one of the gaps in your website’s security armour.
Step 3: Remove Google Blacklisting
If you have been blacklisted by Google, you need to follow a completely different method to get your domain back online, even though your web server “un-suspends” your page. Follow this guide for deleting Google Blacklist Notice.
Step 4: Update your website
Update your website, including your WordPress Center, plugins, and themes. Running on the new update of WordPress is still a smart idea to keep security bugs at bay.
So far, the preliminary criteria for having your website back online have been taken care of. You will now get into the details that may be more technical than some are familiar with. You can run a security audit for WordPress, call for professional assistance, recruit a security expert, or just get a security plugin like MalCare to do the job for you.
Step 5: Backup and Refresh Account
You should try using your backups to recover your website if Pantheon is unable to supply you with a list of exact files that have malicious material in them, as well as a backup of your website. You need to install a new, malware-free, and new version of WordPress if you start over.
- Downloading installation of WordPress from https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
- Unzip the file that was downloaded,
- Import them back into your account for hosting
- Now you can recover your backups here and start anew.
Of course, if the copies are corrupted too, all this is for naught. If you’re not sure exactly why you’ve been hacked, so there’s a high chance of reinfection, and you’re going to get back to square one. You must search and clean your backups in that scenario, too.
Step 6: Scan your site for malware
Even if Pantheon lets you know the exact files in which malware has been detected, checking your site on your own is still better, finding even the most complex malware that Pantheon might have overlooked on your website. However, it is not possible for most malware scanners to detect little-known or very complicated malware (like VCD malware). They rely on matching of signatures. In such instances, only the malware inside the protection plugin database is detected as malware.
MalCare Protection Scanner detects improvements in all the website files to solve this and uses 100+ smart signals to detect all the malware on the site. Across 240,000+ websites, the smart self-learning algorithms are derived from its extensive malware scanning experience. In short, complex malware that goes undetected in other popular plugins is successfully detected by MalCare.
Step 7: Remove malware from your site
You will have to delete it ASAP now that you know each and every virus on your web. You can get your site back online sooner, that way. In such situations, we know time is of the essence, so can you afford to wait around for a security technician to help you replace the files exactly the way you want?
Security plugins tend to leave their on-site personnel with the final cleaning as well. A one-click instant malware remover such as the MalCare malware remover is an alternative to this long and time-intensive technique. “You clean your website before you say, “What a great deal! You do not need any technical knowledge, and you will not waste time at all.
Step 8: Re-scan your site – Just in case
You need to make sure your website is really prepared to be online again. Again, it wouldn’t do to get your website suspended, just because you weren’t careful this close to the finish line. Or you can leave it to the Automatic Daily Scanner of MalCare to look after this for you.
Step 9: Email Pantheon
Let Pantheon know you’ve done the necessary things and you’re ready to get your website back online. Tell them what you have done on your site to remove the malware. Promise them that (for your own sake, if not only theirs) you can take better care of your website security and that’s it. This move can be supported by the MalCare Monitoring feature. You should have your website back within an hour.
Completion
In addition, use secure login credentials, secure SALTs, CAPTCHA security, install a firewall, improve the security of your site, and don’t forget to periodically back up and update your website. We hope you’ve found this guide helpful.