Often times it happens out of the blue. Suddenly your WordPress website stops working and you don’t know what’s wrong with it. Do you know how to find out if your site has been infected with malware, the only virus for websites ? We will tell you.
Reporting from Google
You look at your page and see a big red warning box in your browser. “Deceptive site ahead” means that Google has detected malware on the site. If you visit this site, you do so at your own risk, and if you click on the button that alerts you, you will see a warning about Google’s malware. The site is currently unsafe. At that point, you know for sure that your site needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible.
Sometimes it may not show up in a red box, but it’s enough that Google throws it right there in the search engine. But that doesn’t happen very often. Because if your site is infected, Google will often simply remove the infected site from the search results. In some cases, however, the page may still be listed, but it will be flagged with a message that says “This site may be hacked” or “This site may harm your computer”
Redirecting the page to an inappropriate page
Some malware can redirect the address of a page to a completely different one. Mostly sites with inappropriate content or advertising. This happens mostly with unupdated modules and themes, where even database hacks occur.
Overloaded website
Is your website loading very slowly ? It doesn’t have to be malware right away. It could be a plugin that does this due to a bug, but it could also mean an infected site.
A broken website
If your website stops displaying all of a sudden, it may not be malware. Multiple things could have gone wrong, most often during an update. But if your website won’t load, it could also be malware. In that case, we recommend checking your site with the VirusTotal tool.
Your web host has shut down your site
In this case, your web host may have received messages from site visitors that your site has been hacked, they may have been alerted by their own automated security tools, or they may have received alerts from automated systems. In either case, they will usually take your site offline.
Some web hosting companies have a policy of immediately reformatting an infected server or hosting account. Which means a complete wipe of the site. They do this to prevent the infection from spreading to other customers, even when the site is offline. This is another reason why it is important to have backups for the website.
How to detect malware on a site
The best way is just the VirusTotal site, which has a URL checking feature, and checks your page with a large number of antivirus programs and databases. It will let you know right away if your site is infected.
How to clean a WordPress site
The quickest option is to order our WordPress Site Malware Removal service. With the help of our online service, we can clean your malware and get your website fully functional within a few hours. We have a wealth of experience and an elaborate to-do list of what we need to do for every single attack. After the removal, we will of course update the site, secure it and inform you of the risks