{"id":14722,"date":"2013-06-05T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T08:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.adviceinteractivegroup.com\/?p=5645"},"modified":"2026-09-23T12:10:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:10:44","slug":"what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do if Your WordPress Gets Hacked"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I wanted to keep this week&#8217;s infographic in the same vein as some of our earlier posts about knowing what to do when someone steals your content and how to protect your domain name, so this Infographic Wednesday, it&#8217;s all about protecting yourself, your site, and your consumer&#8217;s information.<\/p>\n<h2>Learn What to do if Your WordPress Gets Hacked<\/h2>\n<p>WordPress is the most commonly used content management system (CMS) today, so if you&#8217;re a business owner who uses WordPress, it&#8217;s important to know the signs and what to do if your WordPress gets hacked to not only protect yourself, but your consumers as well. Hackers can steal data and personal information as well as place links within your site pointing to who knows what. The cleanup from a compromised blog could take days, costing you and your business time and money, so learn how to detect possible signs of website hacking and how you can prevent it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5648 aligncenter\" src=\"\/images\/hacked-site-down.jpg\" alt=\"hacked site down\" width=\"245\" height=\"270\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Signs Your Site Has Been Compromised<\/h2>\n<p>Some of the most common signs your site has been hacked include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Home page has been defaced.<\/li>\n<li>You no longer have admin access to your site.<\/li>\n<li>A red Google Warning page comes up when accessing your site.<\/li>\n<li>You receive warnings from your anti-virus software.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"\/images\/Your-Website-Has-Been-Hacked.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5646\" src=\"\/images\/Your-Website-Has-Been-Hacked.jpg\" alt=\"Your Website Has Been Hacked\" width=\"645\" height=\"302\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>What Can You Do?<\/h2>\n<p>If you suspect your WordPress has been hacked, WordPress recommends you <a href=\"https:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">take these steps<\/a>. I would also recommend you change your username from &#8220;admin&#8221; to a unique username as well as bulk up your password security. According to SplashData, some of the most commonly used passwords in 2012 included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0password<\/li>\n<li>123456<\/li>\n<li>12345678<\/li>\n<li>abc123<\/li>\n<li>qwerty<\/li>\n<li>monkey<\/li>\n<li>letmein<\/li>\n<li>dragon<\/li>\n<li>111111<\/li>\n<li>baseball<\/li>\n<li>welcome<\/li>\n<li>jesus<\/li>\n<li>ninja<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It also showed that 1 in 10 people still use 1234 as their banking pin number. Scary stuff. Protect yourself by using different passwords for different sites, not the same password for every program you use. It&#8217;s also recommended you use a mix of characters, letters, and numbers and remember, the longer and more random your password, the better. And another option that should be used is to use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teamworkims.co.uk\/gdpr\/\">a GDPR consultancy<\/a> as they will be able to guide you very well on what needs to be done.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visually_embed\" data-category=\"Technology\">\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #303030; font-family: Arial;\">Has your website ever been hacked? Tell us your experiences including how you handled it and whether you were able to recover.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wanted to keep this week&#8217;s infographic in the same vein as some of our earlier posts about knowing what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-web-development-design"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What to do if your WordPress Gets Hacked | Advice Local<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read through this infographic to learn more about WordPress hacking including why people hack blogs, how it happens, and what can be done about it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What to do if your WordPress Gets Hacked | Advice Local\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Read through this infographic to learn more about WordPress hacking including why people hack blogs, how it happens, and what can be done about it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advice Local\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/advicelocallistings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-05T08:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-23T17:10:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Advice-Local-Partners-FB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Advice Local\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"What to do if your WordPress Gets Hacked | Advice Local\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@advice_local\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@advice_local\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Advice Local\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Advice Local\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/24c2a8bbb06a68d8e0642a3283d7f1f4\"},\"headline\":\"What to do if Your WordPress Gets Hacked\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-05T08:00:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-23T17:10:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":389,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Web Development\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/\",\"name\":\"What to do if your WordPress Gets Hacked | Advice Local\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-05T08:00:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-23T17:10:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"Read through this infographic to learn more about WordPress hacking including why people hack blogs, how it happens, and what can be done about it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What to do if Your WordPress Gets Hacked\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Advice Local\",\"description\":\"Local Digital Marketing Software Solutions and Services\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advice Local\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/logo.png\",\"width\":265,\"height\":55,\"caption\":\"Advice Local\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/advicelocallistings\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/advice_local\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/advice_local\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/24c2a8bbb06a68d8e0642a3283d7f1f4\",\"name\":\"Advice Local\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Advice Local\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/advice-local\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What to do if your WordPress Gets Hacked | Advice Local","description":"Read through this infographic to learn more about WordPress hacking including why people hack blogs, how it happens, and what can be done about it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What to do if your WordPress Gets Hacked | Advice Local","og_description":"Read through this infographic to learn more about WordPress hacking including why people hack blogs, how it happens, and what can be done about it.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/","og_site_name":"Advice Local","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/advicelocallistings\/","article_published_time":"2013-06-05T08:00:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-23T17:10:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Advice-Local-Partners-FB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Advice Local","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"What to do if your WordPress Gets Hacked | Advice Local","twitter_creator":"@advice_local","twitter_site":"@advice_local","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Advice Local","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/"},"author":{"name":"Advice Local","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/24c2a8bbb06a68d8e0642a3283d7f1f4"},"headline":"What to do if Your WordPress Gets Hacked","datePublished":"2013-06-05T08:00:35+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-23T17:10:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/"},"wordCount":389,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Web Development"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/","url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/","name":"What to do if your WordPress Gets Hacked | Advice Local","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-05T08:00:35+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-23T17:10:44+00:00","description":"Read through this infographic to learn more about WordPress hacking including why people hack blogs, how it happens, and what can be done about it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-your-wordpress-gets-hacked\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What to do if Your WordPress Gets Hacked"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/","name":"Advice Local","description":"Local Digital Marketing Software Solutions and Services","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advice Local","url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/logo.png","width":265,"height":55,"caption":"Advice Local"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/advicelocallistings\/","https:\/\/x.com\/advice_local","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/advice_local"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/24c2a8bbb06a68d8e0642a3283d7f1f4","name":"Advice Local","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Advice Local"},"url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/author\/advice-local\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14722"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21868,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14722\/revisions\/21868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}