Hacked WordPress? Fix the compromise, not just the symptoms

The first hour is the same whether the homepage was defaced, the host suspended the account, or customers say the site bounced them somewhere else. Do these before you restore a backup:

1. Users. Remove every admin you did not create. A restore from last night puts that user back if the backup already had it.
2. wp-content/mu-plugins/ and PHP files in wp-content/uploads/. Plugins you can see in wp-admin are not the whole list.
3. Search Console, Security issues, if the property is verified. That list is the URLs Google is warning people about.
4. The other sites on the same hosting login. One cPanel often means the same mess on more than one domain.

A host restore is safe only when you know the backup is from before the extra admin and the extra files. If the backup already contains them, the restore puts the compromise back.

Outdated plugins, reused passwords, and a theme you stopped using are the usual way in. The cleanup has to remove the files and the account that wrote them. Changing the homepage text leaves both in place.

CypherSecurity provides a practical hacked WordPress fix: full malware and backdoor sweep, removal of spam and injected scripts, core/plugin/theme integrity checks, and a password rotation plan with a written handoff. Work is done by MDI LABS with formal cybersecurity training and enterprise hardening experience — not a generic “reinstall WordPress and hope” playbook.

Start with the emergency package deposit on Stripe. You will redirect to a secure intake for site URL, symptoms, a temporary admin user named mdi-tech when possible, and hosting/SFTP notes. Balance is due on delivery of the cleanup report.

We do not invent client logos or five-star walls. Pricing and scope are on the hub. You get a cleanup report grounded in what we found on your install — enough for you or your developer to keep maintaining the site without guessing.

We begin with triage: what visitors see, what the host reported, and whether Search Console or Safe Browsing is involved. Then we clean persistence and malicious payloads, harden the obvious account and configuration weaknesses in scope, and verify the live site no longer serves the bad content.

If Google or your host has flagged the site, cleanup is step one; review requests and reputation recovery follow once the cause is gone. See our pages on Safe Browsing removal and blacklist removal when warnings are the main symptom.

Continuity retainer ($149–$299/mo) is recommended after a hack for monitoring and quicker re-entry. You can opt out — one-time cleanup stands alone.

Choose emergency deposit when the site is actively compromised. If the main issue is a browser warning with little live malware, start with Safe Browsing / blacklist recovery instead, then escalate if triage shows a deeper infection.