Having a malware notice on your website is frightening. The malware notice may occur in Google Search Console, in Google search results, or while attempting to access your site using Chrome browser. This alert should be taken with utmost seriousness since it implies that Google has found some form of threat that would place your visitors at potential danger.
Malware warnings do not necessarily imply that someone has knowingly inserted a virus to your site. Your website may have been attacked by hackers, there could be malicious code on your website pages, or it could be that your outdated plugins gave access to the attacker.
It’s important to be able to identify the problem, remove any malicious software that exists, seal the security hole, and ask for an audit by Google. Below are steps you can take without aggravating the situation further.
Table of Contents
1. Getting Rid of Malware from Your Website and Recovering the Clean Files
Having found the malware, the next step would be to get rid of it and ensure that your website is now safe.
This could be done using various ways depending on how the hacker managed to attack the computer.
Recover Using a Clean Backup
In case of having a clean backup made before the infection, it might be the fastest way to recover.
Be sure that it is not infected since recovering an infected backup just brings the problem back.
In addition, restoring the backup by itself does not solve the vulnerability exploited by the attacker. If an out-of-date plug-in or password was used for the hack, this process is vulnerable to the same attack again.
Manually Remove Malicious Code
If a clean backup is not available, a security expert will have to remove the malicious code, files, redirects, and unauthorized content.
With WordPress sites, it might entail replacing any corrupted core files with new ones, installing any affected plugins or themes again, and thoroughly removing any corrupted database entries.
Do not delete files just because they seem to be suspicious. There might be some legit WordPress and hosting files with unknown names and location. In some cases, you might come across genuine WordPress and hosting files whose names may be unknown. You should find out their function before deleting them.
2. Check for Malware Warning in Google Search Console
Before making any changes, first identify what Google has identified. You may receive a malware warning either in the search results or via your browser, but the best place to check is Google Search Console.
The Security Issues Report of Google shows the detected issues and gives you sample URLs that will help you find out which pages have the issues.
Steps to Detect Security Issues
- Login into Google Search Console.
- Choose your website property.
- Select the Security Issues Report.
- Expand on the stated problem to get the description and example URLs.
- See if there is any malware, hacked content, dangerous downloads, or social engineering detected by Google.
The above categories are not exactly the same. There can be situations where the hacked content contains spammy pages or injection of links, whereas malware contains dangerous scripts or files.
However ,do not make an assumption that the samples are all of the pages that have been impacted. Google is showing some sample URLs for you to check out, but there could be others on your website as well.
3. Limit Temporary Access to Your Website if Necessary
When your website is serving malware, redirecting users to harmful sites, or making the users vulnerable to phishing attacks, then the safety of the visitors becomes more important than the accessibility of the website.
Whether it is because of the seriousness of the infection, you will have to take the area down for some time until the process of investigation and cleanup occurs.
However, do not just simply wipe off everything including your website, because that will make the process even harder.
What to Do First?
- Inform your host about the potential breach.
- Write down the web addresses that look suspicious to you.
- Don’t go into the potentially malicious websites using your regular web browser.
- Inquire if your hosting account or server is involved.
- Save an archive of the infected website for analysis, if possible.
When you own a website or web-based business, it is advisable to post a temporary message during the time your website is being secured.
In case of a severe virus attack, seek the services of a web security expert and not attempt any changes that you do not understand.
4. Scan Your Website to Detect Any Malicious Files or Code
Eliminating Google’s warning without locating the cause of the problem will not resolve it for good. The malware may be hiding anywhere on your site – whether in theme files, plugins, uploads, database entries, or even in server-side files.
Hackers can also generate some secret accounts for administrators or introduce some scripts to already existing pages. A website which seems innocent to its owner may actually be carrying some harmful codes visible only to some selected users or even to search engine spiders.
How to Detect Suspicious Files on Websites
If you are working with WordPress, begin by utilizing an effective security scanner or malware detector. Such tools will help to find any changed core files, suspicious scripts, malware, and vulnerabilities.
You should also:
- Compare the WordPress core files with the clean copy from the official WordPress release.
- Look for unusual activity in recent file edits
- Look at administrator accounts for any new and unknown users.
- Check for strange actions in the recent changes to files.
- Check administrator accounts for any new and unfamiliar users.
Be vigilant for strange PHP files, new JavaScript codes, or code added to any existing file such as functions.php or .htaccess.
A scanner is helpful, but not everything can be guaranteed to be picked up by the scanner. Sometimes malware is designed in such a way that it can go undetected using normal scanning techniques. It might take a more intensive process to thoroughly check these infections.
5. Ask Google for a Security Review
Once your website has been cleaned up and the vulnerability is resolved, you should ask Google to conduct a security review.
This step is crucial because, although you might have removed malware from your server, it does not guarantee that all warnings on Google Search and Chrome would be eliminated.
Google needs to revisit the website and ensure that the issue mentioned is actually fixed.
Steps to Submit for Review
- Log in to Google Search Console.
- Select your website.
- Go to security issues.
- Ensure that the stated problems have been resolved.
- Click Request Review.
- Describe the reason for the infection, what was removed, and what security mechanisms were put in place.
Be clear in describing why these problems occurred. For instance, note that the injected scripts were removed, and the corrupt plugins were replaced.
Do not request a review while your site is still infected. In case Google checks it out and finds the problem is still there, the request will be rejected.
How long does it take? Google states that it usually takes a couple of days to fix malware problems, but a hacked content review may take several weeks.
6. Monitor Your Website to Avoid Future Infections
Even after being approved by Google does not guarantee that your website will be safe from future infections. It is important that you monitor and maintain your website.
Make sure that you have set up backup procedures. Ensure that your website software is always up to date and be watchful for any unusual behavior in the administrator accounts.
For those using WordPress, a security plug-in will ensure malware detection, login protection, and security monitoring.
Don’t forget to examine the hosting environment as well. The ideal hosting company must be able to offer good account isolation, security patches, and reliable backups in addition to great support when server problems arise.
You might want to perform regular checks using Google Search Console to see whether there are any new security alerts. You may even want to do a quick Google search with site:yourdomain.com and check for unusual pages.
While there is no way to guarantee security, having all of the above listed factors can greatly decrease the chance of being targeted by any typical form of attack
7. Repair the Security Hole That Led to the Problem
It’s not enough to just clean up your website; you must figure out how the hacker got access to your system in the first place. If you don’t, your website may get re-infected, even after you remove all of the malware.
Commonly used points of entry are old plugins, insecure themes, insecure passwords, hacked administrator accounts, and insecure server configurations.
Enhance Website Security
Make sure to do this after cleaning the site:
- Upgrade WordPress, plugins, and themes to a secure version.
- Update the passwords for WordPress administrators, hosting, databases, and associated accounts.
- File and directory permissions should be checked.
- Make sure that your hosting environment uses the latest software versions.
In case you think there was an incident involving the compromise of the administrative account and hosting credentials, just changing the password for the WordPress site alone will not be enough.
Moreover, refrain from downloading any plugins or themes from untrustworthy sources. Such software is often malicious even prior to its installation.
Final Thoughts
Google warning about malware on your site is indeed a serious security threat, but it does not necessarily mean you cannot recover from it.
Begin by analyzing the issue using the information provided in Search Console and then take appropriate action by removing any malicious content and getting your site cleaned up before you apply for reconsideration.
First of all, remember that getting rid of the malware shouldn’t be viewed as a one-off process. Regular updating of your website, having clean backups, and checking its security should be done on a regular basis.
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