What to do if your PrestaShop store is hacked?

Discovering that your online store has been hacked can be a stressful and chaotic time. However, it's crucial to act quickly and effectively to minimize damage, protect your customers' data and restore your site's security. Here's a step-by-step guide to dealing with a hack on a PrestaShop store.

Over the past few years, PrestaShop has seen an upsurge in attacks of all kinds. These have become more sophisticated, enabling you to hijack your customers' data or simply their payments.

Often, a vulnerability is exploited to drop fraudulent scripts into place, which are then exploited weeks or months later.

Some payment hijacking scripts are well-developed enough not to be displayed if the site visitor also has an active session in the PrestaShop backoffice, preventing the site owner from quickly discovering the truth.

Step 1: Identify and confirm the hack

• Check for signs of compromise: slow site performance, unauthorized content, suspicious transactions, etc.
• Check log files: Examine server logs for unusual or unauthorized activity.
• Contact your hosting provider: They can provide additional information about the hack, such as the origin of the attack.

Step 2: Contain the attack

• Put your site in maintenance mode: This will prevent visitors from accessing the site while you work on security issues.
• Change all passwords: Be sure to change your PrestaShop administration, database, FTP and hosting console passwords..
• Check employee access: Delete or modify accounts that are no longer needed or appear compromised, remembering to reset all passwords..

Step 3: Clean up the site

• Call in security experts: If necessary, get professional help to clean up the site.
• Restore a clean backup: If you have backups predating the attack, restore your site from them. This procedure is rarely used in the majority of hacks, as they may have begun months before the scripts were exploited..
• Clean up infected files: Use security tools to scan and remove malware or suspicious files.

Step 4: Update and secure the site

• Update PrestaShop and modules: Make sure you are using the most recent versions of PrestaShop and any plugins or themes..
• Reinforce security: Install additional security modules, configure firewalls, and enable two-factor authentication for administrative access, or restrict access to specific IP addresses.
• Examine configuration settings: Check and adjust your site's security configurations to avoid security breaches..

Step 5: Communicate with stakeholders

• Inform your customers: If customer data has been affected, let them know what has happened and what action you are taking.
• Report to the appropriate authority: In some cases, it may be necessary to report the hack to regulatory or data protection authorities.

Step 6: Post-recovery monitoring

• Monitor network traffic and logs: Stay alert for any new suspicious activity.
• Continue regular backups: Be sure to maintain a regular schedule of backups after recovery..
• Evaluate and improve: Take the time to evaluate how the attack occurred and work to improve security measures to prevent future incidents.

A hack can be devastating, but with a rapid and organized response, you can recover and secure your online store against future attacks. Taking proactive security and monitoring measures can help protect your business and your customers in the long term.