Websites experience many threats, such as malware injections, distributed denial of devices (DDOS), plugin vulnerabilities, and brute force attacks. Fortunately, with a Web Application Firewall (WAF), you can protect your website from these threats. It helps establish and manage rules for avoiding them. Despite offering robust protection, website blocklisting can still happen due to several circumstances, such as using Cloudflare. This means that users or target audiences cannot access it since search engines suspect them to be corrupted.

That's why you should invest in extra-web-based security to establish efficient cybersecurity management for your website. Quettera's ThreatSign! can protect your website from blocklisting despite being protected by Cloudflare. Keep reading to learn more.

Website blocklisting refers to a phenomenon where a search engine groups several web addresses that it suspects are dangerous or corrupted. Once a website has been blocklisted, it doesn't appear on the search engine's result page to protect users from unsafe plugins and malware. Although most websites on this list are indeed dangerous, search engines often blocklist completely innocent websites. Sometimes, you may not realize it, especially if you don't visit your website until traffic drops and your earnings dwindle.

Cloudflare uses a Web application Firewall (WAF) to protect websites from cybersecurity attacks, malicious traffic, and other common vulnerabilities. Despite adding much value to your cybersecurity measures, your website can still become blocklisted when attacked with threats that a DNS-based WAF cannot detect or prevent. Such attacks include the Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS), which disrupts a website's assets by overwhelming its underlying infrastructure.

Most WAFs also fail to protect websites from bots that abuse legitimate business logic because they cannot identify and counteract such threats.

Malware infections may occur through various invisible infections to a DNS-based WAF like Cloudflare. Some of these invisible attacks that can contribute to website blocklisting include the following:

Infection Through Sibling Websites on a Similar Server

If your server hosts various websites, any malware infection on one site can quickly spread to other websites hosted on the same server since they're accessible with the same FTP account. Cloudflare, even being a DNS-based WAF, might not identify this lateral movement of the malware.

Host-Level Infections Due to Outdated Packages or Vulnerabilities

Unaddressed vulnerabilities or outdated software packages in the server's operating system can also infect your website. Cybercriminals usually target these vulnerabilities to gain access to your website and exploit it.

Stolen Credentials

Cybercriminals can access your website by accessing the host admin SSH, FTP, or website admin dashboard and bypassing the DNS WAF using stolen credentials. There are various ways to obtain sensitive information, such as using fake websites, phishing emails, bot frauds, and social engineering techniques.

Payload Manipulation

Payload manipulation is another common technique used to infect websites protected using DNS-based WAF. Cybercriminals use different techniques to bypass web application firewalls, which are available using cheat sheets available online. Some of these WAF techniques include:

• Nested encoding
• DOS or DDoS attack to force the WAF to get into a fail-open state and bypass it
• Leveraging limitations on WAFs

Missing Protection Rules for New/Zero-Day Attacks

Existing web applications usually don't cover new or zero-day vulnerabilities immediately. Therefore, until its protection rules are updated, your WAF may allow malware to slip through and infect your website. These unknown vulnerabilities often remain undiscovered, compromising websites for months before detection and the consideration of mitigation measures.

Some of the common ways that cybercriminals use to exploit target websites with zero-day vulnerability include the following:

• Spear phishing
• Malvertising and malicious sites
• Unauthorized access
• Spam and phishing

Misconfigured DNS WAF

Incorrect settings or misconfigured DNS WAF can also lead to vulnerabilities that allow malware to slip through your site. Security misconfiguration refers to the failure to maintain or configure a website's system or application's security system. It occurs when the default configuration isn't changed, security patches are not properly and promptly applied, and unnecessary services are not disabled.

Given the limitations of DNS-based WAF, you should find ways to add extra protection to your website and ensure comprehensive and tight security. One of the best techniques you can consider to prevent website blocklisting is the use of external and server-side monitoring. These are meticulous web scanning procedures that uncover potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

Here's a breakdown of how they work:

External Malware Scanning

These include an in-depth assessment of a website's external threats, identifying possible weaknesses, and developing ways to improve and reinforce the overall defenses. Some of the threats that these scans protect websites from include DDoS attacks, phishing, advertising, and ransomware. External malware scanning can help protect your website from other risks, such as malware hazards, misconfigured firewalls, and remote access vulnerabilities. It can also help in compliance mandates like HIPAA and PCI DSS.

External vulnerability scans publicly accessible IP addresses to find selectively open ports and potential weak points. Once identified, the anti-malware categorizes these vulnerabilities and prioritizes its action according to their risk levels to ensure a strategic approach to addressing the security problem.

External malware scanning also stimulates your website visitors' experience by verifying its content and ensuring the pages are malware-free. This is crucial for businesses that use their websites to sell or promote their products. It increases their legitimacy and protects their customers' information.

Server-Side Malware Scans

Many malware attacks come from compromised servers and server-level infections. A server-side scan delves into the website's backend database for hidden infections and checks for hidden files. It detects malware that external scans might miss, especially those embedded in the server-side resources.

These scans verify every file on a site, looking for phishing, backdoors, and other security issues that remote scanners would miss. They also track file changes and create an audit trail for changes that may happen to your files.

Given the risk associated with website blocklisting, it's crucial to have a secure website with the most secure protection platform. Quttera's ThreatSign! provides cutting-edge external and server-side monitoring to detect malware in your website promptly.

Our platform uses real-time alerts to keep you updated once it detects an infection, allowing you to mitigate any threats swiftly. It also uses blocklist monitoring to track and notify you if your website is on a blocklist. This helps you address potential issues before they corrupt your website. By integrating ThreatSign! into your existing Cloudflare WAF protection, you ensure a more robust defense against infections and reduce the possibility of website blocklisting. Sign up to our platform to learn more!