WordPress security, before and after something goes wrong.
Almost every compromised WordPress site was running a plugin with a publicly known, already-patched vulnerability. The exploit is rarely clever. It is nearly always an update nobody applied.
- Fixed-price quote in 1 business day
- Built on WordPress
- US business hours
WordPress core is well maintained and rarely the way in. The plugin ecosystem is where the risk sits: thousands of extensions, wildly varying code quality, some abandoned by their authors years ago and still installed on millions of sites.
When a site gets compromised the pattern is almost always the same. A vulnerability is disclosed and patched, an automated scanner finds sites still running the old version within days, and a site nobody updated for eight months gets hit.
If you are compromised right now, that is a clean-up job and we can start today. If you are not, hardening now is dramatically cheaper than recovery later.
How WordPress sites
actually get compromised.
Plugins with known vulnerabilities
Disclosed, patched, and still running on your site months later. This is how the overwhelming majority of WordPress compromises happen.
Weak or shared admin accounts
Administrator access for people who need to edit a page, reused passwords, no two-factor, and old accounts nobody removed.
Backups that were never tested
A backup you have never restored is a hypothesis. Plenty of businesses find out during an incident that theirs has been failing silently for months.
Nobody watching
Sites often stay compromised for weeks, quietly serving spam or redirecting mobile visitors, until Google flags the domain.
What we do
to secure a site.
Emergency malware removal
Full clean-up of injected code, malicious files, database entries and unauthorised admin accounts, with the entry point identified and closed.
Blacklist recovery
If Google has flagged the site, we clean it, submit for review and get the warning removed.
Hardening
File permissions, disabled file editing, restricted admin access, forced strong passwords, two-factor and login rate limiting.
Plugin audit
What you are running, what is abandoned, what has known vulnerabilities, and what can simply be removed.
Update discipline
Staging-first updates so patches are applied promptly without a patch breaking your site.
Monitoring and backups
File integrity monitoring, malware scanning, uptime alerts and offsite backups with tested restores.
Every engagement includes this.
- Full malware scan and clean-up across files and database
- Entry point identified and closed, not just symptoms removed
- Unauthorised accounts and backdoors removed
- Google blacklist review submission where relevant
- Hardening pass with file permissions and access control
- Plugin audit with vulnerability and abandonment flags
- Offsite backup configured with a tested restore
- A written report of what happened and how it got in
Why we'd build this on WordPress
Because you own the server, everything is fixable, including things hosted platforms will not let you touch. The trade is that patching and monitoring are your responsibility, which is what a care plan covers.
- Full server and file access, so nothing is off limits during clean-up
- Hardening applied at the file, database and application layer
- Offsite backups independent of the host that was compromised
How a clean-up runs.
- 01
Contain
For an active compromise we take a forensic copy first, then stop the immediate damage: remove malicious files, revoke sessions and lock down access.
- 02
Find the entry point
Cleaning a site without finding how they got in means it is compromised again in a week. This is the step cheap clean-ups skip.
- 03
Clean thoroughly
Files and database, including injected content, spam pages and modified core files. Then scan again to confirm.
- 04
Harden
Close the entry point, apply the hardening pass, update everything on staging, and remove what should not be installed.
- 05
Restore standing
Blacklist review where relevant, monitoring set up, backups verified, and a written report of what happened.
What moves the price on
security work.
We quote fixed prices per project rather than by the hour, so scope is what determines cost. These are the four things that move it most.
Active compromise or prevention
Hardening a healthy site is predictable work. Cleaning an active infection depends on how deep it went and how long it ran.
How long it was compromised
A site hit last night is far cheaper to clean than one that has been serving spam for six months with content injected across hundreds of pages.
Site size and complexity
An e-commerce site with customer and payment data needs more careful work than a brochure site, and the stakes are higher.
Hosting quality
Some shared hosts reinfect from neighbouring accounts. If the host is the problem we will tell you rather than cleaning the same site twice.
Every project is quoted individually. Tell us what you need and we'll come back within one business day with scope, timeline and a fixed price.
Get your fixed-price quoteThe cost of a year of maintenance is almost always less than one emergency recovery, and the recovery does not come with the peace of mind.
If you are compromised now, deal with that first. If you are not, this is the cheapest insurance you will buy this year.
Get a fixed-price quote Back within 1 business day
Questions site owners
ask us most.
Our site is hacked right now. How fast can you start?+
Same day in US business hours. Send the URL and hosting access on the quote form and mark it urgent. Most clean-ups complete within 24 to 72 hours depending on how deep the infection goes.
Is WordPress insecure?+
WordPress core is well maintained and rarely the entry point. The risk is the plugin ecosystem, weak passwords and poor hosting. A hardened WordPress site with a short plugin list and disciplined updates is as secure as most alternatives.
Won't a security plugin handle this?+
Wordfence and similar are worth running and they are not a strategy. They will not apply your updates, remove an abandoned plugin, fix weak passwords or restore you after an incident. They are one layer, not the answer.
How do we stop it happening again?+
Update discipline is most of it, applied on staging so patches do not break the site. Then a short plugin list, restricted admin access, two-factor, and monitoring so you find out from us rather than from a customer. That is what a care plan is.
Google has flagged our site. Can you fix that?+
Yes. We clean the site, confirm it is clear, then submit for review through Search Console. Removal typically takes a few days once the site is genuinely clean, and submitting before it is clean makes things worse.
Will we lose data?+
Usually not. We take a forensic copy before touching anything, so we can always go back. Where content has been damaged we restore from the last clean backup, which is one reason tested backups matter so much.
You might also need
Get help with your WordPress security.
Tell us what you need in two minutes. We'll come back with scope, timeline and a fixed price, no sales call required first.
Start your free quote