{"id":429,"date":"2013-05-06T04:21:54","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T04:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?p=429"},"modified":"2026-06-02T01:10:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T08:10:33","slug":"wordpress-website-hacked-how-to-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/429\/wordpress-website-hacked-how-to-fix-it\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress website hacked? How to fix it…!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n \n \"Steps\n <\/picture>\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If your website isn’t displaying the way it should – for example the page header doesn’t display – and\u00a0your WordPress blog\u00a0prints out\u00a0an error instead of displaying your awesome blog posts – and you haven’t changed anything –\u00a0 it means your website has been hacked.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n \n \"WordPress\"\n <\/picture>\n <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Chances are it is from your WordPress blog\u00a0or its\u00a0third party plugins<\/a> you are using.\u00a0 Perhaps from a backdoor, like when in 2011\u00a0three popular WordPress plugins (AddThis, WPtouch, and W3 Total Cache), had malicious backdoors added to them via the plugin repository<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preventing the Hack…<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That is why it is important to keep your WordPress blog and plugins up-to-date, especially when there are security fixes released. But sometimes like in the 2026 WordPress Backdoor Scandal, where 30+ \u201ctrusted\u201d plugins just turned malicious<\/a> it’s something out of your hands if you trusted to use the third-party plugins in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have UltimateWB, and WordPress integrated with it, you can still upgrade your WordPress from its admin panel without worrying about the integration being broken – if needed, you just go to your UltimateWB website Admin Panel, Pages > Edit Page > Blog, and click the link to update your blog integration! Easy! Since SEO is built-in the UltimateWB integrated WordPress blog, there is no need for a third-party plugin for optimizing your website blog. And the UltimateWB built-in features reduces the need for any third-party plugin, for that matter. So, just make sure to keep the WordPress core updated for any security fixes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Steps to Fix Your Hacked WordPress Website<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ok, so how to fix your website that has been hacked, and make sure it doesn’t get hacked again and again – here’s 2 easy steps to do it:
(by the way, you might want to get a backup first, but also make sure you have some anti-virus software installed on your computer! Best to backup in zip\/compressed formats, for extra security.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Upgrade all your software files – manually. <\/strong> You should delete all your current software\/WordPress files, and then upload the new ones.  Make sure you don’t delete your uploaded content though, for example uploaded images, files, etc.  For WordPress, these files are under your  wp-content folder<\/strong>.  If you upgrade automatically, you might not be catching the backdoor if it’s an extra file, as it might not get deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) After step 1, your website\/blog should look great, back to normal.  But, you might not be done yet! <\/strong> You might have missed the backdoor extra file injected on your server.  If you miss the backdoor file, next time it is accessed, your website will be broken again.  You should check your raw access logs.  These are logs keeping track of the traffic to your website, on each access – not just the entry file like in your traffic statistics.  If you don’t know where these are, ask your web hosting company.  You will want to skim through the lines, checking for any weird files being accessed – you will want to delete these files that weren’t part of your website before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, now you’re done.  Check to make sure your website is running smoothly.  Take a backup of your website\/database on a continuous basis.  Sometimes when your website gets hacked, you can lose your data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: What do I do if someone hacked my WordPress e-commerce site?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do WordPress websites and blogs get hacked so much?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes you can lose your website content with some website builders, but not due to hacking: Lost Your Work in Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress? Here\u2019s Why It Happens (and How to Prevent It)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And sometimes your WordPress website error is not a hacking, but a plugin issue that can be easily fixed: How to Fix: WordPress Error Class \u2018C_NextGen_Settings\u2019 Not Found<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And sometimes your WordPress plugin update just breaks your website: How One Plugin Update Broke a WordPress Site \u2013 And How You Can Avoid It<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Want to design & build your own website, without a need for third-party plugins? Learn more about UltimateWB<\/a>! We also offer web design packages<\/a> if you would like your website designed and built for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got a techy\/website question? Whether it\u2019s about UltimateWB or another website builder, web hosting, or other aspects of websites, just send in your question in the \u201cAsk David!\u201d form<\/a>. We will email you when the answer is posted on the UltimateWB \u201cAsk David!\u201d section.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If your website isn’t displaying the way it should – for example the page header doesn’t display – and\u00a0your WordPress blog\u00a0prints out\u00a0an error instead of displaying your awesome blog posts – and you haven’t changed anything –\u00a0 it means your … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[306,304,307,305,303],"class_list":["post-429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-fix-backdoor","tag-fix-website","tag-remove-backdoor","tag-website-hacked","tag-wordpress-hacked"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9900,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions\/9900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}