Malware Removal for WordPress

Let’s get started with a simple question – What is Malware? ‘Malware’ is a ‘malicious software’ that’s been designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. Once the owner’s computer system has been infected, it might spread and harm other machines either within the same network or others.

One of the most common tell-tale signs that a website is under attack is the message below, or, it might just return you to a blank white page. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do to get things to run smoothly again:

Checking for malware infection symptoms

1. Do a fresh WordPress upgrade. Don’t just overwrite.
2. Remove malicious codes (themes, plugins, .htaccess)
3. Remove cache and sitemaps
4. Check database for malicious codes (use phpmyadmin > Search)
5. Change database and FTP password
6. Perform housekeeping on WordPress and change password
7. Upgrade all plugins to the latest version
8. Submit malware review via Google Webmaster Tools

Other symptoms of a website being attacked by Malware:

1. Returning to a blank page
2. The alignment of the content on your page is off
3. Certain dynamic-pages of your website don’t work
4. Some of your plug-ins used in WordPress don’t work
5. Files shown on FTP client ends with the extension “.INFECTED”
6. A malware warning sign appears on the web browser
7. Unknown .htaccess files in directories

Malware removal tips

To manually deactivate all Plugins without WP admin access, clear the values in wp_options > active plugins

Your site will not be reviewed by Google immediately, and the warning sign may remain for a few hours despite having all malware removed

The warning sign will state the name of the malware. Use it as the keyword in your search for malicious codes.

Posted by Adrian

Other related articles:
Recovering from site compromise
Malware injection attack

Notes: For those who need the help to investigate your website, please use the Contact us form to inform us.