I Got 99 Problems but a Blog Infected With Malware Ain’t One

“Security warning – Malware detected!”

Or as anyone who’s site has ever been attacked will tell you, “Drop everything! You’re about to spend the next week cleaning this script off of your site – and even when you do get it cleaned, it will come back again… and again…”

That’s how I looked at it until I invested in Sucuri.net’s services.

The Free Plugin

Sucuri offers a free plugin – you can grab it from the WordPress repository.

Once installed on your blog, it will allow you to scan for malware and potential issues; give you one-click controls to harden files and access points; and help you determine if you have any “holes” that scammers could find and exploit.

If you haven’t been infected by any viruses or attacked with malware, the free plugin is a good option for staying on top of potential issues.

 

The Paid Service

If you’ve been hit by a virus or malware, though, the paid version is worth every penny (IMHO).

With a subscription, Sucuri.net will scan your site on regular intervals (you decide… daily, every 6 hours, etc).

Not only will they tell you if they find a problem – they’ll fix it for you, within a few hours.

Here’s a great example of why this is a worthwhile investment…

Last week while I was enjoying 8 rounds of “Kickball Home Run Derby” at my sons’ elementary school Field Day, two of my sites were under attack.

All of the attacks were caught by Sucuri.net, who cleaned the sites, closed up the hole the scammers had found and sent me a list of recommended steps to further protect the sites.

And I had no clue until I was walking off the kickball field and found the notices from Sucuri in my inbox.

The Dashboard

As hands-free as the whole process can be – they do have a really nice dashboard.

Here’s a look at a report that shows the current status of one of my domains:

At a glance, I can see that everything is fine on this site… but if it weren’t, the areas of concern would be clear.

And, if I were to beat Sucuri to the punch and find a security issue before they did, I can ask them to look into it and fix it using this simple form:

 

Finding this plugin and service has saved me countless hours of frustration. Plus, it’s saved me from the greater costs of losing visitors who receive security warnings when trying to visit my sites.

So, even if you’re not going to implement this on your site today – in the future, if your site does get attacked just remember “kickball” and “malware” – I’m pretty sure this is the only post this site (or on any site possibly!) with that combination!

 

Photo: Hacking from Pixmac.

Tags:

• WordPress Security