WordPress Hack Cleanup Service [Who do I call for cleanup?]

Cleaning Up Your Hacked WordPress Site: A Guide for Non-Techies

As a small business owner, you rely on your website to connect with customers and grow your company. So when your site gets hacked, it can be incredibly stressful and damaging. Unfortunately, WordPress sites are common targets for hackers. If you find malicious code, spammy links, or other shady stuff added to your website, don’t panic! With some basic cleanup steps, you can get your site secured and back to normal.

This article will walk you through the cleanup process in simple terms anyone can understand. No advanced technical knowledge needed! We’ll go over:

• How to access your WordPress dashboard and admin tools
• Finding affected areas of your site
• Removing harmful code and content
• Tightening security to prevent future attacks
• When you may need to call in a professional

Let’s get started with the basics.

Accessing Your WordPress Dashboard

The WordPress dashboard is where you can log in and manage everything on your site. To access it:

1. Go to your main website URL and find the log in area. This is usually in the top right but may be in the footer or under a “Site Admin” link.
2. Enter the username and password for your WordPress account. These are the login details you set up when the site was built. If you don’t have them, contact the web developer who built your site.
3. Once logged in, you’ll see the dark dashboard screen with menu options on the left. This is your command center for cleaning things up!

Finding Affected Areas

Now it's time to inspect your site and find anything out of the ordinary. Start by carefully looking through all your public pages and posts. Signs of hacking may include:

• Strange text or images you didn’t put there
• Links to other websites you don’t recognize
• Pop-ups, ads, or videos that shouldn’t be there
• Messages on pages that don’t relate to your business
• Content in a foreign language
• Spelling or grammar mistakes more than your usual typos

Make a note of each page where you spot anything odd. You’ll need to edit or remove the bad code in those areas next.

Checking Under the Hood

Hackers often add malicious code that isn’t visible on the front-end but can still cause harm. Let’s check these hidden parts of your site:

1. Go to Plugins in your dashboard menu. Hackers sometimes plant bad code in plugins.
2. Activate each plugin one by one to inspect settings and code. Look for anything suspicious that shouldn’t be there.
3. Check Plugins > Editor to view plugin code files. Scan for sloppy/unknown code.
4. If you notice malware, delete the affected plugin.

Now let’s check your vital theme files:

1. Go to Appearance > Editor in the dashboard menu.
2. Open each file in your theme to view the code. Malware may be present here.
3. If you spot rogue code, delete the file. Make a note to replace it with a clean version later.

Removing Harmful Content

Time to start cleaning up the malicious content you found earlier. For each affected page or post:

1. Open it in the dashboard and delete any bad text, images, links, ads, videos, etc.
2. Replace them with your normal content. You may need to revert to an older saved version that was clean.
3. Proofread closely to fix any other oddities the hackers left behind.
4. Click Update to save the cleaned page.

For any suspicious plugin/theme files you identified, delete them immediately so they can't do more damage. You can search the web for replacement clean versions later on. Removing the malware is the priority.

Securing Your Site

Now that the obvious damage is cleaned up, let's add some security measures to stop future attacks:

• Change all site passwords, especially your WordPress login. Make them long and complex.
• Remove any inactive users in your dashboard. Fewer accounts = fewer vulnerabilities.
• Install a security plugin like WordFence to monitor for threats and block hackers.
• Set file permissions to prevent unauthorized access. Your web host can help with this.
• Disable file editing in WordPress. Go to Settings > General and uncheck “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”.

These steps will harden your site against attacks. But for full protection, we strongly recommend having a professional audit your site's code and servers to check for any deeper issues.

Calling in the Pros

In some cases, the hack may be beyond an easy fix for non-techies. If you notice any of the following, it's best to bring in an expert:

• Your site is completely down or crashes immediately.
• Dashboard is inaccessible even with the right login.
• You can't isolate and remove the bad code.
• Malware keeps reappearing after cleanup attempts.
• Site speed/performance seems impacted.
• You don't know how to restore damaged files or plugins.

A WordPress consultant can do a deep inspection to find and neutralize elusive malware. They may rebuild parts of the site if the core is compromised. Though it costs money, professional help is often the only way to fully restore your site after a major hack.

Staying Protected

No one ever expects to get hacked until it happens. To avoid going through this ordeal again:

• Keep WordPress and all plugins updated. Outdated software is an easy target.
• Make regular site backups you can restore if disaster strikes.
• Don't use weak passwords. Change them periodically.
• Limit user accounts and use two-factor authentication where possible.
• Research security plugins and consider hiring monitoring/cleanup services.

With vigilance and safe browsing practices, most small business owners can avoid malware infections. But if the worst happens, this guide equips you to clean things up. Stay calm, take it step by step, and don't be afraid to call in reinforcements. You'll have your precious website back up and running in no time!