A clean, malware-free website and online presence are crucial to your website’s success and reputation. Unfortunately, even the most diligent WordPress site owners don’t always notice malicious code creeping into their site until it’s infected and spreading viruses to every visitor who visits their site. Protect your website from harmful code by following these simple steps for scanning your WordPress installation for potentially malicious code.
How to Check for Malicious Software
There are several different tools that can help you check if your website has been infected with malware. The most popular tool is Google’s Search Console. Once logged in, you’ll have the option to check under Malware which will let you know if there has been any activity within the last week. This will give you a good idea of what kind of malware is infecting your website and how many pages are affected.
Where Should You Look?
Every now and then, you might get the feeling that someone has been messing with your website. You look back at the last time you made changes and can’t remember doing anything out of the ordinary. When this happens, running a security check on your WordPress website is a good idea.
How to Clean Up Malware or Suspicious Code in WordPress?
One of the first things you should do is change your WordPress passwords, including those for your WordPress accounts, email addresses, web hosting provider (if applicable), FTP or SSH login information, and database password. Changing these can help ensure that a hacker who may have compromised one password will not be able to cause any more damage than necessary on your website.
Next, we suggest creating a complete backup of your entire WordPress website before taking further action (refer to our Updraft Plus Guide). If something goes wrong during the cleanup process after an infection has taken hold, you can revert to the infection-free version of your site with minimal effort.
After securing everything else digitally, it’s also important to consider securing yourself physically by downloading an antivirus app that protects both computers and mobile devices alike (we recommend Bitdefender), which will guard against future infections while continuing to offer protection against other malicious threats such as phishing scams.
Check for Malicious Software Using Sucuri
Log in to Sucuri and select the website you want to check from the drop-down list. Click on the Site check tab and enter your website’s URL into the text box labeled Enter URL. On the Check Site button in the upper right corner of this page and wait a few minutes while Sucuri scans your site. You should see a green banner at the top of this page that reads No problems found. This means there is no malware on your site or anything else wrong with it, and you can close this window if you like.
Scanning with WP Security Scan
Install the WP Security Scan plugin on your WordPress site. When the plugin is activated, it will automatically start scanning your WordPress website. If you have a large website, allow it to run in the background while you work on something else. It could take a few hours to complete the scan, so be patient and don’t stop it prematurely. Once the scan has been completed, click View Results and look at what was found. You’ll want to address any issues found, as they may be causing other problems with your website.
Check for Malicious Software Using WordFence
Wordfence is a popular plugin that protects your blog from malicious activity. You can install it by going to the Plugins section of your WordPress dashboard and searching for Wordfence. Once you’ve installed Wordfence, go back to the dashboard and click on the Settings tab. Scroll down until you see Site Security, then scroll down again until you see Threat Level Indicator. Check the box next to Scan posts and comments on save, then click Save Changes. If you want Wordfence to be on at all times of day, change Monitor this site at the top of this page from Just while I am logged in to Always monitor this site.
Scanning with Jetpack Security
JetPack Security is a plugin that can help you identify and delete any malicious code from your website. The plugin has various security features to keep you safe, including firewall protection and virus scanning. JetPack Security offers features scanning for malware, which will automatically check your site for anything that might be harmful. If JetPack Security detects any malware on your site, it will let you know and provide instructions on how to remove it. It’s essential not only to have JetPack Security installed but also up-to-date.
Check for Malicious Software Using Isitwp Security Scanner
With an ever-evolving digital landscape, how can you know whether or not your WordPress site is safe? Thankfully, there are a number of security scanners out there to help. Enter your URL into the IsItWP Security Scanner and get fast results that indicate any vulnerabilities. Powered by Sucuri, this scanner will also point out some steps you can take to increase your website’s safety at home – both now and in the future. Now that you’re armed with this knowledge, let’s talk about cleaning up malware and malicious code on your site!
The Importance of Keeping WordPress and Plugins Updated
As with any software, WordPress and its plugins are prone to vulnerabilities. Keeping these up-to-date is an important security measure to help protect against data loss or unauthorized access.
You can easily update WordPress and plugins from within the dashboard by following these steps:
- Log into the dashboard.
- Click Updates.
- Find the plugin you want to update in the list of available updates, then click Update Now. If a newer version of the plugin is available, it will be listed at the top of this list.
- Repeat these steps until you have updated all the plugins you wish.
In conclusion, a security audit of WordPress sites is the best way to ensure you are safe. If you have not done so already, it is important that you set up some form of security auditing. You can do this in many ways, but all will be better than just hoping everything will be okay. The most important thing to remember when doing an audit is that it needs to be done regularly. That way, there will never be any surprises, and your blog’s security can always stay strong.