Support » Fixing WordPress » My site has been hacked

  • I have tried to find something useful in this area, but so far have not found anything that is helpful.

    Certain parts of my website (http://patrickvaillancourt.ca) have been hacked by what appears to be a terrorist group.

    The parts affected are the Categories section in my bottom-right sidebar as well as the page that showed all of my blog posts. My website consists mainly of pages with a nav link to my blog, but since the hacking I have taken the blog nav link down. You can see the hacked pages if you click on any of the categories at the bottom right of my site.

    I am new to troubleshooting websites and so can someone please provide me with a step-by-step on how to go about fixing this? I am by no means a designer or programmer.

    Thanks!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    Thread Starter vaillsp

    (@vaillsp)

    Thanks Ipstenu, but that was the very first thing I did, and since I am not all that familiar with everything in there, I was hoping to get some more specific advice. A simple link is not very helpful for me as I have very limited knowledge in this area.

    I have done some of the things listed in the FAQ and installed the Exploit Scanner plugin, but I have absolutely no idea what it all means.

    Thread Starter vaillsp

    (@vaillsp)

    I just went through the editor on my dashboard and it seems that only 2 php files are affected (category.php / index.php).

    I guess my question is whether it is possible to restore these php files to the way they should be without taking the site offline, and if so, how would I go about it.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    The reason we point people to that page is because it’s useful and tells you what to do. Did you change your passwords? Check with your host? Restore from a backup? Without knowing WHAT you tried, it’s hard to say. And yes, it’s a lot to learn, but you need to take the time now, or you will be in pain later.

    In fact, on that page, it tells you to restore from a known good backup. I know you said only two files were affected, WHERE are those files? Are they theme files or what? If you don’t have a good back up of your theme, go download a new copy and upload that.

    Do you know how to use FTP? You should be using that right now to make your fixes.

    Thread Starter vaillsp

    (@vaillsp)

    Thanks for that. I seem to have fixed it simply by deleting and reinstalling the theme.

    Now is there plugins or steps I could take to prevent further attacks?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    I seem to have fixed it simply by deleting and reinstalling the theme.

    You remember where the page AND I said ‘restore from backup’? That’s basically what you did.

    Yeah, go read that page I gave you 🙂 Start with changing your passwords, continue on through the suggested also-read. You will be learning a lot. Take it one step at a time and you’ll be fine. But yes, you will need to read and learn a lot here.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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