Introduction
WordPress powers over 30% of all websites, making it the most popular CMS (content management system) in the world. Unfortunately, with great popularity comes heightened risk, this makes WordPress a major target for hackers looking to spread malware and gain access to websites. If your WordPress site becomes infected with malware, it can cause a variety of issues ranging from impacts on site performance, SEO, data breaches, and even complete site takeovers.
The good news is that with a proper malware detection and removal strategy, you can protect your site and clean any infections before they cause lasting damage. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll cover what you need to watch out for, how to tell if your site is infected, steps to remove the malware, and tips on hardening site security going forward.
Signs Your WordPress Site is infected with Malware
Here are the most common signs that indicate your site has been infected with some type of malware or other vulnerability:
– Increased spam comments and login attempts
– Changes made to files you know you didn’t edit yourself
– Decreased website speed and sudden spikes in bandwidth usage
– Traffic drops and bounce rate increases
– Strange redirects, popups or other unusual front-end behavior
– Google Search Console warnings and messages about malware
– Issues updating themes and plugins or problems logging into the backend admin dashboard
Those are dead giveaways that some unauthorized third-party has gained some type of access or injected bad code into your site.
Detecting and Removing Infections
If you suspect your site has been compromised, there are a few things you can do to detect and remove the infection:
- Scan for malware using WordPress plugins – There are excellent dedicated WordPress scanners like Wordfence or Sucuri which can scan your entire site for malware and vulnerabilities. These plugins often detect and resolve issues automatically.
- Review all files and databases manually – For deeper scans, you may have to dig into your actual files, admin users, etc yourself. Look for any edited core, theme or plugin files that could indicate a hacker added bad code. See what users have admin or editor access that shouldn’t. Watch for suspicious additions to your database.
- Restore site backups or reinstall WordPress – If the infection is deep and complex, restoring a known clean backup of your site or completely reinstalling WordPress from scratch may be necessary. Just be sure to keep a backup of infected files for later forensic analysis.
- Update all passwords – Once malware is removed, immediately update all WordPress user account passwords, hosts, FTP, etc to lock out hackers who obtained your passwords while infiltrated.
Hardening WordPress Security
The best cure is prevention – stopping attacks before they compromise your site. Removing an infection is step one, but hardening the site’s underlying security is just as important for preventing future attacks. Here are key ways to lock down security:
– Maintain WordPress updates, themes, and plugins to eliminate security vulnerabilities.
– Limit themes and plugins to reputable options with good support
– Utilize strong, unique passwords and change passwords routinely.
– Leverage a web application firewall to monitor traffic
– Restrict admin access only to those who require it
– Backup your site frequently in case you need to restore a clean version if infected.
Proper malware detection and mitigation takes some technical know-how and effort. However, by understanding the common signs of infection and using plugins, manual reviews, and backups you can thoroughly inspect for issues. And hardening the site with basic security best practices will help prevent most attacks before they ever happen.
Conclusion
If your site does suffer an infection, take it seriously by conducting a full investigation, comprehensively cleaning all files and databases, and securing WordPress against repeat attacks. Contact WordPress solutions providers like Wpdepend who also offer managed malware removal services for quarantining and restoring infected WordPress sites. With vigilance and quick action if issues arise, you can keep your site running smoothly for the long-term.