Hacked Website Clean Up
Hacked Website Clean-Up
Spam links, redirects, a Google warning, or a site that's suddenly selling handbags. We clean it up, find how they got in, and shut the door.
We clean up hacked websites regularly, and most of them arrive the same way: a customer rings to ask why the site is sending them somewhere odd, or Google has put a red warning page in front of it. Nobody plans for this, so here's what to do and what we do.
No hard sell.
or call 0800 699 0037
How to tell you've been hacked
Pages redirecting to sites you've never heard of. Strange links or foreign-language text appearing on your pages, sometimes only in Google's results and not on the site itself. A "deceptive site" warning in Chrome or Search Console. Your hosting company's malware scan flagging files. Email from your domain bouncing or landing in spam. Or just a site that's gone slow and strange for no reason.
What we do, in order
Contain it. Take a full copy of the site as it stands, so nothing is lost, then quarantine the infected files so the site stops doing harm while we work.
Find it. Locate every infected file and every back door, not just the obvious one. Hackers usually leave more than one way back in.
Remove it. Clean or replace the infected files and database entries, and bring the site back to a known-good state.
Close the hole. Work out how they got in (an unpatched plugin, a weak password, an old theme) and fix that, so it doesn't happen again next month.
Test it. Check every page, every form and every route through the site before we call it done.
Get the warnings lifted. Request a review from Google and your hosting company so the red page comes down.
In most cases we do all of that without taking the site offline, because a site that's down is losing you business even while it's being fixed.
Afterwards
Most hacks come through something that wasn't updated. Our maintenance package keeps WordPress, plugins and themes patched, scans for malware regularly and backs the site up twice a day, so if it ever happens again the fix is a restore rather than a rescue. Our managed hosting adds a firewall and monitoring on top.
If it's happening now
Ring 0800 699 0037 or email support@codesky.co.uk. A site that's down or compromised is treated as urgent, and outside UK hours our Philippines team picks it up.
People We've
Worked With
From local trades to national names, we've designed, built and marketed websites for businesses of every shape and size across Lincolnshire and beyond.
Talk to us
Ring 0800 699 0037 or email hello@codesky.co.uk.
