How do I know my WordPress website has been hacked?

Far too often, people ask this question when it is too late. Hackers have already injected your website with ugly mischievous code. Unfortunately, this situation occurs terribly often, but most sites can be restored. These following danger signs will definitely be an unexpected surprise, and should send you into immediate action.

Why is this happening at all? Plainly, there are bad people in the world who want what you have. They set up automatic crawlers and bots to crawl the web and make attempts to access your website. Many hackers are trying to figure out your password on the WordPress admin page. Once they figure out one of your passwords, they have a place to start with your other applications, credit cards and bank accounts which might carry that same password.

Each website hack may have a different level of attack. The severity of your problem and its solution may vary. The more injected code, the more hours it will take to remove it. Some sites may need more attention to bring it back to health.

Page Not Found

On your WordPress home page, you might see a 404 Error warning or a “Page Not Found” warning. You might try to reload the page, but it appears again. Ugggh!! This is a bad sign.

Your web hosting service may have blocked your page. The hackers have done significant damage to your page for your hosting provider to shut your page down.

Google Search Result

You, a customer, or friend may notice this flag on a Google search when looking for your website. Google may have found your site from their web crawlers which noticed the ugly unwanted code in your website. At this point, you have to play by Google’s rules to remove the code, and communicate with the Google team to re-approve your site to be running on the web.

Site Contains Malware

What is malware? It is malicious software that will disrupt computer operations, gain access to private systems, or gather sensitive information. Basically, it is a set of bad code that is the results from hacking on your website code. They are unwanted files that have been injected by a hacker or a bot that has been crawling the web. You will need to secure your WordPress website and protect it from future attacks.

What does this Google warning indicate? It has noticed that you have bad files on your website, and there still may be vulnerabilities or access points that hackers may still get in. It’s a call for attention to these issues.  

What To Do With A Hacked Website?

Contact your webmaster. Contact your website hosting company. Find the right professional who can remove these sets of bad code. Give due diligence and attention to cleaning up and protecting your website. You will need a security package for your website for significant protection against hackers.

Contact us here at Lightning Fast Media to get your WordPress site secure and back online!