Discovering that your website has been hacked can be alarming, but quick action can minimize the damage and restore your site. If your website has been compromised, following a structured recovery plan to regain control and prevent future incidents is crucial. This guide outlines the steps you should take if your website is hacked and offers preventive measures to protect it in the future.
Step 1: Take Your Website Offline
The first step after discovering a hack is to take your website offline or put it in maintenance mode. This prevents further damage to your site and limits the spread of malware to your visitors. By temporarily halting site operations, you can safely assess the situation without worrying about continued attacks.
Step 2: Scan for Malware
Run a thorough malware scan once your site is offline to identify any malicious code or suspicious files. Use trusted security tools or plugins to scan your entire site, including your database and file systems. This step helps locate compromised areas and provides insight into the type of hack you’re dealing with.
Step 3: Check User Access and Permissions
Review all user accounts and permissions to ensure unauthorised users cannot access your site. Hackers often create new accounts or change existing permissions to maintain control over the site. Remove unfamiliar users and strengthen the security of administrator accounts by changing passwords and enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Step 4: Restore from Backup
If you have a clean backup of your website taken before the hack, restore your site to this version. Restoring from a backup is often the quickest and safest way to eliminate malicious code and regain site control. Make sure the backup is recent enough to avoid losing critical data.
Step 5: Remove Malicious Code
If restoring from a backup isn’t an option, you’ll need to remove the malicious code from your site manually. Check for unfamiliar scripts, strange code injections, or modified files that don’t belong. Be particularly vigilant with core files, plugins, and themes. Deleting or replacing corrupted files with clean versions is essential to regaining site control.
Step 6: Update Software, Themes, and Plugins
Outdated software is one of the most common vulnerabilities hackers exploit. Ensure your CMS (such as WordPress), plugins, and themes are updated to their latest versions. Updates often include security patches that protect against known vulnerabilities. Also, remove unused or outdated plugins and themes to reduce your site’s exposure to attacks.
Step 7: Change All Passwords
Immediately change all passwords associated with your website, including admin accounts, database credentials, FTP access, and email accounts. Choose firm, unique passwords for each account and consider using a password manager to ensure they remain secure. Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of protection.
Step 8: Submit Your Site for Review (if flagged)
If Google or other search engines flagged your website as unsafe, you’ll need to submit it for a security review once it’s been cleaned. This process ensures that any warnings or blocks are removed and your site can be indexed again without issues.
Step 9: Monitor for Future Attacks
After restoring your site, set up continuous monitoring tools to monitor its security status. These tools will alert you to suspicious activity or future attempts to breach your site. Regular security scans, file integrity checks, and activity logs will help detect any early signs of trouble.
Preventive Measures to Protect Your Website
- Use Strong Passwords and MFA: Ensure all accounts related to your website use strong passwords and enable multi-factor authentication for added security.
- Regular Backups: Set up automatic, regular backups so that you always have a clean version of your website ready in case of future hacks.
- Install Security Plugins: Use trusted security plugins to provide firewall protection, malware scanning, and login security for your site.
- Keep Software Updated: Regularly update your CMS, themes, and plugins to ensure that known vulnerabilities are patched.
- Limit User Access: Grant only the necessary level of access to your website’s users. Avoid giving admin privileges to multiple accounts unless necessary.
Recovering from a hacked website can be daunting, but following these steps will help you regain control and strengthen your security. By addressing vulnerabilities, removing malicious code, and implementing preventive measures, you can safeguard your website against future threats and ensure a safer user experience.
