What To Do If Your WordPress Blog Is Hijacked By Spam Links (Part 2)
by David Pankhurst - April 13, 2008
- Install WordPress brand new. Currently, 2.5 is the latest, but you can use 2.3.3 if you’re concerned about the major changes. At all times you can get older versions of WordPress from their Release Archives. If your database is OK, then you can reinstall WordPress using the same database name and user password. If you are extra paranoid, then log into your mySQL system, and change the password of the current user. Remember to use that in the new setup of the WordPress blog. And if you want to start fresh, then import your articles with the XML backup you made instead.
- Change passwords. Login and change your Admin password, your FTP password, and any other passwords you can think of. If you have other users with enough control to affect your site (for example, allowing them to edit articles or insert code into the site), then either reduce their privileges, or change their passwords.
- Clean up and restore. Make sure your backups are valid (try unzipping them), and then delete the the old files online. DO NOT try to reuse files. For example, if a plugin or theme caused the problem, reusing the file will just cause the problem again.
- Rebuild clean. If you need a plugin, then add it from a known good source, such as the WordPress Plugins Directory directly, or from a reliable site (like ActiveBlogging.com). Likewise with themes: go to the originator of the theme, and make sure you’re confident it’s OK to use. If possible, scan through the code looking for anything odd.
- Evaluate what to do in the future. Consider a lock down. ActiveBlogging Platinum members have a program ‘WordPress Secure‘ included free as part of their membership, which adds protection, allowing you (and only you) access to WordPress Admin. I also offer a report on WordPress security on my Top10Tricks site, which discusses other options.
This list will get you started. Unfortunately, this is a serious problem, and it can take awhile to get right - much like recovering after a bad virus on your computer, you may be able to get by doing something simple, but you may also have to reinstall to be completely rid of it.
I expand on this in some detail in the April ActiveBlogging Report, but the key is to isolate and replace as soon as you can. And be brutal - because the alternative may be not quite solving the problem, which may end up not solving it at all.
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