A hacked WordPress site can be alarming for any website owner, posing a serious threat to your data, credibility, and visitors’ safety. While WordPress is a highly secure platform, it isn’t entirely immune to attacks. When your hacked WordPress site is compromised, it’s critical to act quickly to prevent further damage and restore your site’s integrity.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through essential steps to confirm the hack, secure your hacked WordPress site, and communicate effectively with your hosting provider. From changing passwords to conducting malware scans, these actions will help you recover your hacked WordPress site and safeguard against future breaches. Due to the popularity of WordPress, it is especially important to adopt strong security measures and regularly update your defenses to maintain the integrity of your site..
Confirm the Hack on Your Website
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Before jumping into panic mode, it’s essential to confirm if your website has indeed been hacked. Before panicking, confirm whether your hacked WordPress site is indeed compromised. WordPress is secure, but third-party plugins, outdated themes, or weak passwords can introduce vulnerabilities. Common signs that your WordPress site is hacked include:
- Inability to log into your hacked WordPress dashboard.
- Suspicious redirects to other websites.
- Unauthorized content changes on your hacked WordPress site.
Sometimes, these issues might stem from technical glitches or hosting problems, so confirming the actual hack is crucial before proceeding with the recovery of your hacked WordPress site.
For a detailed checklist on confirming if your WordPress is hacked, consult Sucuri’s guide.
Change All Passwords Immediately After Your WordPress Is Hacked
Once you’ve confirmed the breach, the first step to protect your hacked WordPress site is to change all passwords associated with it. This includes your WordPress admin passwords, database access credentials, and FTP accounts. A hacked WordPress site could have exposed these credentials, so changing them is essential to securing your site.
If you’re unable to log in, use the password reset function within WordPress. If password reset emails are not coming through, it might indicate that your hacked WordPress site’s email functionality is also compromised.
For a secure process on resetting passwords for a hacked WordPress, refer to WordPress.org’s password reset guide.
Alert Your Hosting Provider About Your Hacked WordPress Site
After securing your passwords, contact your hosting provider to inform them of the hacked WordPress issue. Hosting companies can assist with restoring your site from backups, running server-side scans for malware, and providing guidance on further securing your hacked WordPress site.
Describe the symptoms of the hack, such as malicious redirects or spam ads appearing on your WordPress hacked website.
Take Your Hacked WordPress Site Offline Temporarily
To protect visitors from potential harm, you might need to take your hacked WordPress site offline temporarily. By activating maintenance mode, you prevent users from interacting with the compromised content. This step can help mitigate any further spread of malware or unauthorized activity on your hacked WordPress installation.
If you can still access your admin dashboard, enable maintenance mode to hide the hacked WordPress content. For detailed instructions, check out this WPBeginner guide.
Assess the Damage on Your WordPress Site
Once you have secured the immediate risks, the next step is to assess the damage inflicted by the hack. This involves scanning your site for malware, checking for backdoors, and reviewing user permissions.
Scan for Malware and Backdoors
Install a reputable security plugin like Wordfence or MalCare to scan your site for malware and backdoors. These plugins perform in-depth scans of your website files, database, and themes to detect harmful code or any unauthorized changes. Even if your website seems to be functioning normally, hidden malware could still be present, so a thorough scan is essential.
Regular scans can help you catch hidden threats before they cause irreversible damage.
Review User Permissions
Hackers often create unauthorized accounts with administrative privileges to maintain control over your website. Review your WordPress user accounts, FTP credentials, and database access settings. Remove any unfamiliar users and update the credentials of legitimate accounts to prevent further access.
For more on managing WordPress user roles and permissions, consult WordPress Codex: Roles and Capabilities.
Check for Unauthorized Changes in Website Files
Examine your website’s core files and look for any unauthorized modifications. Hackers typically insert malicious scripts or alter essential files to maintain access. Make a backup of your current site via FTP or a backup plugin and consider restoring from a clean backup if necessary.
Updating your WordPress salts and security keys can also be an effective way to revoke access tokens tied to previous logins.
Find out how to update your salts by following this guide by iThemes.
Inspect Your Database for Suspicious Entries
It’s also important to check your WordPress database for suspicious entries. Hackers can inject malicious code into your database that may not be immediately visible. Once you’ve identified any anomalies, remove them carefully to prevent further damage.
If your website was flagged by Google or marked as unsafe, after cleaning your site, request a review through Google’s Search Console to clear your website’s reputation.
Cleaning the Hacked WordPress Site
Now that you have assessed the damage, it’s time to clean your website and remove any malicious files or code.
Remove Malicious Files and Code
Begin by removing any malicious files or code from your WordPress installation. If you have a clean backup from before the hack, now would be an excellent time to restore it. Otherwise, manually review your site’s files and remove any that appear suspicious. Be sure to back up your current site first, just in case something goes wrong during the removal process.
For a more comprehensive guide on cleaning a hacked site, refer to Sucuri’s WordPress malware removal guide.
Restore from a Clean Backup
If you have maintained regular backups, restoring from a clean backup can save you significant time and effort. Store your backups off-site to prevent them from being compromised during an attack.
Tools like UpdraftPlus or BlogVault are excellent for automating the backup process and storing copies in the cloud.
Update WordPress, Themes, and Plugins
An outdated WordPress version, theme, or plugin is often the entry point for hackers. Regularly updating your WordPress installation, themes, and plugins is critical to protect against known vulnerabilities.
For a step-by-step guide on how to keep your WordPress updated, visit the WordPress.org updates page.
Post-Recovery: Securing Your WordPress Site
After cleaning your website, focus on strengthening its security to prevent future breaches.
Enforce Strong Password Policies
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to protect your site is by enforcing strong password policies. Ensure that all users, especially admins, have unique, complex passwords. Avoid common usernames like “admin,” which are often the first targets during brute force attacks.
You can generate strong passwords with tools like 1Password or Bitwarden.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Adding two-factor authentication (2FA) provides an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of identification (usually a one-time code) in addition to a password. This significantly reduces the chances of unauthorized access, even if your password is compromised.
For detailed steps on setting up 2FA, follow WPBeginner’s guide.