SiteLock is a cloud-based, website security solution for small businesses. It works as an early detection alarm for common online threats like malware injections, bot attacks, etc. It not only protects websites from potential online threats but also fixes vulnerabilities. Features include:

• Website scans to check for the presence of malicious code or vulnerabilities
• Automatic removal of any identified malicious code/malware
• Basic firewall
• Website reputation monitoring (check if the website is blacklisted by search engines and spam blacklists)
• CDN to boost site speed, and hence rankings on search engines

Note: SiteLock is only meant for websites and not for a personal computer or laptop.

An SSL/TLS certificate is used only to encrypt a connection between the browser and server to safely transmit sensitive information. However, SiteLock actually protects the database where this information is stored, scans your website files and applications, protects from data breaches and spreading of viruses/malware. These functionalities are not provided by an SSL/TLS certificate.

SiteLock is a cloud-based service and does not require any installation. Once provisioned for your website, it automatically starts scanning your website using the basic scans.

To use the advanced features, some amount of configuration is required:

• TrustSeal – requires minimal installation
• SMART Scan – requires user to input FTP details in the SiteLock Panel
• Firewall – requires addition of an A record
• CDN – requires addition of a CNAME record

The SiteLock badge/TrustSeal is an image that you can display on your website that will assure users your website is malware free and secure. Since SiteLock performs scans daily, the TrustSeal is updated automatically to show that the scans have passed.

Note: The badge is displayed only when no issues are found during the website scan.

Deep 360-Degree Site Scan checks all files susceptible to threats, including .css files, .js files, .jpg, .png and other image files and others. It performs a deep scan checking for anything that could turn into a security issue.

Available types of scan include:

• Daily Malware Scan
• Daily FTP Scanning
• Website Application Scan
• SQL Injection Scan
• Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Scan

All these scans are part of the Deep 360-Degree Site Scan. The availability and frequency (daily or one-time) of these scans differ from Plan to Plan.

If a scan fails, site visitors will not be alerted to any problem. The TrustSeal will simply continue to display the last date when all scans were passed. If the site owner fails to rectify the problem, within a few days SiteLock will remove the TrustSeal from the site. The TrustSeal will never indicate that a website has failed a scan.

Secure Malware Alert and Removal Tool (SMART), if enabled, performs an in-depth site scan and automatically removes malicious code from files on the site. SiteLock makes calls to the web server and replicates the website files on their secure servers and scans the contents thoroughly to identify malicious code or vulnerabilities. In the course of doing this, it can also remove the malicious code from the files, to prevent further damage.

You can choose to not allow SMART to remove any code. In that case, you will only be notified of the vulnerability identified, and you will need to manually check/remove it.

Note: To use this tool, you need to provide your FTP information in the SiteLock panel, along with the port number. This port number will be 21 for Charter Hosting’s Linux and Windows servers. This tool uses the FTP protocol.

SiteLock provides a month’s worth of changes in a log file for your website.

You can always restore the previous version of the page/website. You will then need to manually check the highlighted code for any malicious components and remove them yourself.

It might happen that certain code on the website looks vulnerable but it is still doing what you intended it to do. If so, you can use the Report a False Positive option in the SiteLock Panel and SiteLock will ignore that vulnerability moving forward.

The purpose of this verification is to ensure that the user owns and controls the website. Domain names registered under Charter Hosting will be automatically verified.

For other domain names, the verification process can be completed in one of the following ways:

• Add DNS Records for the TrueShield setup
• Add a meta tag to your website page
• Upload a file to your website

Instructions for these options are available in the SiteLock Dashboard.

Business verification is a service offered by SiteLock where it verifies the phone number and physical presence of a business. This is typically conducted to assure online users that a business actually exists and it is not a fly-by-night setup. This consists of:

• Phone Verification – You need to enter your phone number in the SiteLock Panel and request a verification. Within an hour, you will receive an automated call from SiteLock and you will be provided with a 4 digit code. You then need to submit that code in the SiteLock Panel to verify your phone number.
• Postal Address Verification – After providing your postal address in the SiteLock Panel, you will receive a letter at your postal address within 7-10 days of requesting verification. This letter will contain a 4 digit code that needs to be submitted in the SiteLock Panel to verify the physical address.

Note: If you want to display your contact information on the TrustSeal, it is necessary to verify your business details.

SiteLock’s Reputation Monitoring consists of the following components:

• Search Engine Blacklists – SiteLock monitors if any page or link on the website is listed in the blacklists maintained by search engines or matches with their database of over 7000 known malware sites.
• Spam Blacklists – SiteLock checks if the email server is listed as a spammer on leading blacklists so as to prevent emails from being marked as spam.
• SSL Verification – SiteLock examines the site’s SSL certificate to verify:
  • Encryption strength
  • Certification Authority
  • Certificate expiry
  • Validity of name / domain name

SiteLock offers a basic firewall to help block bot traffic which may harm the website. On logging into the SiteLock Dashboard, you can see a graph of your website’s traffic which reports human visits and bot visits.

To use SiteLock’s Firewall, you need to add an A record to your domain name in order to point to SiteLock’s servers where the Firewall is installed. This way, all traffic coming to the website is routed through the Firewall.

You are required to specify the IP address of your website in the SiteLock Panel so that after routing your traffic through the Firewall, SiteLock can divert it back to your website.

The Firewall is pre-configured, and no options are available within the SiteLock Panel to manage it. However, in the higher end Plans, users can configure certain aspects of the Firewall.

Search engines use spiders to crawl and index websites. SiteLock’s Firewall can distinguish good bots from bad bots and hence will not block search engines from indexing the site.

Charter Hosting does not offer a money back guarantee for SiteLock orders.