How To Remove Malware From WordPress

Designing a website on WordPress ( Content Management System) is very convenient. But what if the site is hacked? Well, it is common for a group of hackers to gain access to a WordPress site.

Also, it’s not as complex as most people think. There are certain tools and solutions that you can use to regain your website’s accessibility.

In this blog post, I will show you a detailed method to remove malware from WordPress sites without any hassle.

What is malware for WordPress websites?

Malware means malicious software that can affect a WordPress site and crash the entire site. Malware runs harmful software and infects the entire website. As a result, your visitor will not be able to browse the site.

Signs of Malware Infection on WordPress Website

It is difficult to understand whether the WordPress site has any malware infection. But there are some signs that your site might be under malware attack.

If you are unable to access your existing account on the site, there is a good chance that someone else has access to your account.
If you see that everything is fine on the backend, but your visitors are unable to navigate the site
Major changes to your site’s files, database, and functionality
If you get a lot of bot traffic to a specific page, it means someone is intentionally sending
When someone is trying to visit your website but gets redirected somewhere else, it means your website might be under a malware attack

Remove malware from the WordPress website

You need to follow several steps to remove malware from a WordPress site. Follow the steps below –

Step 1: Backup your website to remove WordPress malware

Because when you are trying to remove malware from your WordPress site, you may need to install some plugins. These plugins can change the entire website and it will be difficult to go back to the original website. Having a backup will give you security against data loss.

You can use UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin to keep your website backup. So it will save all the data and when you solve the malware problem, you can restore the data with the same plug-in.

Step 2: Scan your website

Now that you have a backup of your site, you can scan your entire site for malicious files. To conduct the scan on your website, utilize the Wordfence Security WordPress plugin. The plugin should now be installed and active in your WordPress dashboard.

You will see scan options on the plugin panel from where you can run a scan. Make sure you select custom verification for your site. You may choose the path for the scan after choosing the custom scan.

Run the scan at this time, and it will take a while to find the harmful files. For each file, you can perform individual actions.

Click on the files you found after scanning. It will show the details. You will have to delete the Cpanel files.

To remove the malicious files, repeat the procedure for each file one at a time. The website will be cleaned of all malicious files.

Step 3: Consult your hosting provider

Malware may be removed from WordPress sites for certain minor difficulties by contacting your hosting company. For example, if it’s a DDoS attack on your website, the hosting company will take the issue seriously and fix it.

Ask them directly in the hosting provider’s live chat and ask them to check if anything suspicious is happening with the website’s server. They can then resolve the issue by taking further action.

Step 4: Install the latest version of WordPress

WordPress brings regular updates with new features. If you’re using an old version of WordPress, there’s a good chance you’re getting a bunch of malware attacks on your site. That’s why it’s always recommended to use the latest version of WordPress.

For existing sites, you can update to the latest version in your WordPress dashboard. WordPress has recently released WordPress 6.0 version with several advanced features. If you upgrade to this version, the site will be more secure.

Step 5: Update themes and plugins to remove WordPress malware

But if you are not using the latest version of the theme then there might be some chances that hackers will gain access to your website.

If you are using any cracked/null plugin for your website then it can be the biggest reason to get malware attacks. In most cases, nulled plugins contain lots of malicious code that can easily infect your website. Therefore, avoid these plugins.

Or, if you are using an outdated WordPress plugin, update it to the latest version. This will ensure better security for the website.

Always consider the best WordPress plugins that are reliable and ensure website security.

Step 6: Reset WordPress Password

Once you’ve removed all the harmful files from your site, it’s time to reset your password. Especially, if you find that one of the members is unable to login to the WordPress account.

I suggest resetting passwords for all accounts. This time, make sure you use a strong password that no one can guess.

How to prevent future malware attacks on WordPress sites?

You may have removed the malware from your site this time, but what about future attacks? Well, your website can get infected with malicious codes again. Take the following steps to prepare your site for the future –

Always update your plugins

Everyone uses plugins for their WordPress sites. But sometimes plugins get outdated and this causes security issues. Also, old versions of plugins are often not supported. So it’s always better to update your plugins to the latest version.

Avoid nulled plugins

A nulled plugin is a copied version of the original plugin. nulled used to be modded and came with some additional features. But there is a huge risk in using these plugins. Hackers can easily access your website through nulled plugins. So, always go for the original plugin version.

Use two-factor authentication for the Site

Maybe you added a lot of members to your WordPress site. That’s fine, but it can sometimes be a threat to website security. If a hacker has access to one of the accounts, he can access the entire site. Therefore, it is better to use two-factor authentication for all your WordPress sites.

Conclusion on how to remove WordPress malware

Now that you know how to remove WordPress malware, you can finally be sure of keeping your site safe. Keep in mind that sometimes it is very difficult to recover the site after it has been hacked. To avoid this, keep your site protected before it has more serious security issues!