Steps to Identify and Fix WordPress Redirect Hack

Opening a website and being connected with another one is not a new thing anymore. In such cases, one should understand that the website is hacked. Hackers hack a WordPress or any other platform site to redirect its clients or visitors to malicious or porn websites. This helps them to gain traffic and also sell their product or advertisements. Hence, when such conditions are identified one should immediately take steps to heal the situation and remove the malware ASAP!!!

Forms of WordPress Hacks

Let us have a look at some of the WordPress Hacks that can damage your website and create an obstacle in its smooth functioning:

• Classic Redirection Hack – In the case of a Classic Redirection Hack the visitor or the client is redirected to various malicious, porn, or inappropriate websites.
• Redirection via Search Results – In such a hack when one wishes to open a website by entering the URL one can access the website. But if a person tries to search it by typing in a search engine then the visitor is redirected to malicious and infected pages. 
• Website Specific WordPress Redirection – The WordPress website redirects the visitor to a malicious website when the website is browsed through a phone or a laptop. 
• Push Notifications Hack – This method involves redirecting to porn or infected website when the visitor clicks on a browser pop-up or notification. 
• Geography Specific Redirection – some of the users of the website might be redirected to some other page while it might not happen with other visitors opening the website. It happens due to Geography Specific Redirection. This method involves targeting some of the specific users based on their area to attain maximum traffic.

WordPress Redirect Hack Symptoms

• Opening or a malicious or porn website while visiting the WordPress site.
• The Google website search results are full of spam. 
• Various unnecessary push notifications.
• Numerous malicious JavaScript codes in the index.php file.
• Unidentified codes in the .htaccess
• Redirection of the WordPress site to unidentified human specification screen.
• Unknown files on the server with inappropriate names.
• Injection of spam links named legitimate links. The scanner is not able to flag such links as well which makes it easy for hackers to proceed ahead.

Steps to Identify the Ways of Hacking a WordPress Redirect Hack

• The exploitation of plugin vulnerabilities
• Insertion of malicious codes
• Insertion of JavaScript in the site header
• Hackers adding themselves as ghost admins
• Sensitive and Affected areas of a WordPress Redirect Hack
• Core WordPress and theme files
• JavaScript files
• WordPress database
• Fake favicon.ico files

Steps to clean the Redirect Hack

1. Use a WordPress Malware Scanner

WordPress uses certain reliable malware scanners that help one to find, fix, and prevent re-hacking of the website. these scanners are safe and reliable and ease the work of the website owners to detect malware and get rid of it easily.

2. Online Security Scan Tools

Online Security Scan Tools like Google safe Browsing help one to scan the files manually and find the malicious ones hidden among them. This helps the website owner to get rid of them easily and replace them with genuine ones. If the website containing other URLs or links are blacklisted by search engines then one also receives a notification to remove them. 

3. Verify WordPress Core File Integrity

This method helps to find out the infected or malicious files in the core WordPress files and eliminate them.

4. Remove Backdoors

Hackers always leave a backdoor to try hacking a website again. Removal of such backdoors helps to cease the way of re-hacking a website and keep its security safe and sound.

5. Check on the Admin Users

Have a check on the new admin users and identify if any among them are suspicious or unknown. Hackers add themselves as admin user so that they can damage a website easily and re-infect it the number of times they wish. Once such admin users are identified immediately delete them and change the existing passwords.

6. Scan Themes and Plugin files

In case of a vulnerable theme or plugin immediately remove them because these are the sensitive points usually hacked by hackers to gain access to a website.

7. Scan Database to Detect Malicious Links

This method helps to get rid of infected and malicious links. To perform this procedure, one should open the WordPress database of the website and scan it. On finding malicious codes and pages immediately delete them to cease further damage. One needs to do it through a management database tool.

Conclusion

The following article is a small piece of knowledge and introduction about WordPress Redirect Hack. This is one of the highly practiced hacks and is usually used by hackers. It can be healed easily if proper steps are taken on time. Regular scanning of a website helps to lower the injection of malicious codes and files.