Your WordPress Site Has Been Hacked. Do Not Panic. Follow These Steps to Recover.
Discovering your WordPress site has been hacked is alarming — but it is usually recoverable. The key is acting methodically, not frantically. A systematic recovery takes hours. A panicked recovery can take weeks and may permanently damage your site. Here is the exact process.
“A WordPress hack feels catastrophic, but it is rarely permanent. The sites that recover fastest are the ones whose owners follow a process instead of making panicked changes.”
The Recovery Process
1. Take the site offline. Put up a maintenance page so visitors do not see the hacked content and Google does not index it. Most security plugins have a maintenance mode option. 2. Change all passwords. WordPress admin, hosting account, FTP, database — every password connected to the site. Use strong, unique passwords for each. 3. Scan and identify the hack. Use Wordfence, Sucuri, or your host’s malware scanner to identify infected files, malicious code injections, and suspicious admin users. 4. Restore from a clean backup. If you have daily backups (you should), restore the site to the last clean version before the hack. This is the fastest recovery path. 5. If no clean backup exists, manually clean the site. Delete suspicious admin users. Replace all WordPress core files with fresh copies. Remove unknown plugins and themes. Scan and clean the database. 6. Update everything. WordPress core, themes, and plugins to the latest versions — the hack likely exploited an outdated component. 7. Harden security. Install Wordfence. Enable two-factor authentication. Limit login attempts. Change the default admin username. Disable file editing. 8. Submit to Google Search Console. After cleanup, request a security review. Google will re-scan your site and remove any safety warnings. For professional hack recovery, see our WordPress Services page.
“The best hack recovery is the one you never need. Daily backups, automatic updates, and a security plugin prevent 95% of hacks before they happen.”
