One question that comes up from time to time when dealing with malware infected WordPress websites is why does malware keep returning to the website. While there are multiple reasons that can occur, what we find most often with websites that keep getting infected, WordPress or otherwise, is that they haven’t actually been infected more than once. Instead, the original issue was never fully resolved.
While some malware can be difficult to fully remove, in most cases what we find is that corners were cut during the cleanup process. That isn’t just an issue with hiring someone who doesn’t have much experience with malware infected websites, as we have often been brought in to re-remove malware form websites when that is the case with supposedly reputable providers. That includes companies who are frequently promoted by journalists, despite what they are covering being itself a pretty big warning that something is a miss with the company.
To properly clean up malware on a website, there are three key components:
- Removing the malware.
- Getting the website secured as possible (which usually involves getting any software on the website up to date).
- Trying to determine how the website was infected and fix that.
If a company’s marketing material doesn’t focus on those, then there is a good chance they are cutting corners. You might get lucky and not experience the downside of that, but if you are like lots of people hire us after having hired someone else, you end paying more and dealing with more problems than if just hired us to remove it in the first place.