All websites are susceptible to online threats, including hacking. If not maintained adequately, this threat can pose serious ramifications. For example, a hacked e-commerce site collecting personal information can jeopardize users’ data and damage the brand’s reputation.
How do I know if my WordPress website has been hacked? In WordPress, hacked websites have several indicators. Understanding them lets you quickly alleviate the threats and recover your site before causing further damage.
This blog will explain how to identify if your site has been hacked and provide practical solutions to fix and prevent a similar attack.
Common Signs Of Your Hacked WordPress Site
1. Site redirection to another website₹
One common sign your WordPress site has been hacked is unexpected redirection to other websites. Hackers might inject malicious scripts that automatically redirect your website visitors to inappropriate third-party sites, like gaming or some other scam pages. The worst part is that these redirects often go unnoticed by site owners because they’re typically hidden from logged-in WP administrators.
As a result, everything looks normal, and the users will report being taken to unfamiliar scam pages. It strongly indicates that your WP site has been hacked and requires immediate action.
2. Unable to log in to your WordPress site
One of the most common signs your WordPress site has been hacked is that you can’t log in to your account. Hackers will remove legitimate users or change passwords to lock you out and maintain control over the site.
Also, note that specific usernames make your site more targetable. If your admin username is something generic like:
- Admin
- Administrator
- Root
- Test
So, make sure to choose unique login credentials to secure your site.
3. Unexpected Site Traffic Drop
If your website sees a sudden drop in organic traffic, it could be an early warning sign that your WordPress site has been hacked. A drop in visitors not only reduces engagement but also damages your brand’s credibility and in extreme cases can get your site blacklisted by Google.
Both scenarios can significantly impact your visibility and search performance.
How to check if your site has been blacklisted?
You can use tools like Google Transparency Report to see if your domain has been flagged for malicious activity. If your site is listed, it’s critical to take immediate action to investigate and secure your WordPress website.
4. Suspicious New User Account
WordPress powers 1 in 5 websites online, so it’s no surprise it’s a popular target for hackers. In addition to exploiting existing users, once they get into your site, they create new accounts with elevated permissions and manipulate your site from within.
To detect malicious accounts, you need to regularly review all user accounts and their roles through your WordPress dashboard and remove any unknown users, especially those with admin rights.
5. New Security Plugin Warnings
If you’ve installed any WordPress security plugin like Wordfence, Sucuri, or iThemes Security, and it shows any signs of new alerts, especially those related to unknown IP addresses or modified core files, it could be a strong indicator that your WordPress website has been hacked.
6. Changes In Website Content
Sudden changes to content on your website are another clue that your WordPress site may have been hacked. Hackers are also known to insert spammy links that take users to suspicious or malicious sites, which is often done subtly and flies under the radar.
That’s why keeping an eye on the pages of your website is essential and catching these unauthorized changes early, and helping you in taking the required action before it becomes big.
How Can I Recover and Secure My Hacked WordPress Website
WordPress is very popular as a CMS, making it the first choice for cyber attacks. That’s why we’ve included some actionable steps you can take to address fundamental security issues and help prevent your site from becoming the next one.
1. Take Your Site Offline
If you can access your WP admin dashboard, you immediately put your site in maintenance mode, preventing users from opening your hacked WordPress site.
To do this, you can enable a plugin or restrict access using .htaccess to prevent further damage and protect your visitors from malware.
2. Restore It For Backup
Before making any changes, create a backup of the infected site using tools like UpdraftPlus or FTP, and mention it clearly as “infected” for the user’s reference.
3. Scan and remove any MalWare Attack
Spam attacks in WordPress typically occur when attackers inject malicious JavaScript or PHP code into your site’s core files or plugins. This code triggers automatic redirection to third-party spam domains, often used for malware activities
To be aware of these hacks, regularly scan your website and delete unused plugins and suspicious files, using trusted security plugins like Wordfence, Sucuri, or MalCare.
4. Clean Your WordPress Database and Site Map
Hackers can exploit your database and sitemap through SQL injections. By relying on plugins like WP-Optimize, you can clean your WP database and use Yoast SEO to generate a fresh sitemap. This not only helps to remove malicious data, but also helps to restore your site’s search engine ranking after an attack.
5. Disable PHP Execution & Secure Your WordPress Site
Hackers often exploit your WordPress dashboard’s wp-content/uploads/ folder to place some malicious scripts. To prevent these malicious files from executing, you can turn off PHP execution:
- Navigate to wp-content/uploads/ via your hosting control panel or FTP.
- Create a new .htaccess file with the following code: <Files *.php> deny from all </Files>
- deny from all
Then, save and upload the file.
If your admin or host doesn’t offer access to your file manager, they can manually use a third-party FTP to upload the .htaccess file.
4. The next step is to secure your site by updating all your core WordPress functionalities. You can do this by adding
wp-config.php:
define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true);
You can install a reliable security plugin to monitor and protect your site from future attacks.
5. Look for Updates
Keeping your WordPress core, plugins, and themes up to date means you’re always running with the latest security fixes, helping you stay one step ahead of potential attacks. Making regular website maintenance a must.
Conclusion
Protecting your WordPress site can seem daunting. However, it’s important to remain proactive. Update plugins often, use reputable security software, and continually update your WordPress core; these are your best defenses against future attacks.
Whether your site has already been compromised or you are taking steps to prevent an attack, our WordPress maintenance company in St Louis can help restore your site, stabilize it without losing available site hours, and ensure it is secure.