Hi all! I've been out-of-pocket for a while, but I've been working in Wordpress quite a bit lately and have lots of info to share!

One of my favorite blogs (all about dissecting business names) was recently hacked and I felt compelled to share the story here.

The biggest tip off to the author at The Name Inspector was a sudden drop in Google traffic. Upon Googling for common search terms, he found his blog was no longer holding its high ranking. Upon further investigation, he found hidden spam links that were injected into the footer of his blog.

If you notice a drop in Google traffic, or you can't find your blog in search results like you did before, you could be hacked! The Name Inspector advises to be on the lookout for a file called class-mail.php in your Wordpress files. This is not a Wordpress file and means you have been hacked! See the Wordpress.org forums for repair help.

So how can you stay safe?

Make sure your FTP password is strong! Use a combination of upper and lower case letters and numbers. Do the same for your blog password.

Check your source code (choose View--->Page Source in most browsers) for hidden links to spam sites (like meds and adult sites). Go into your webspace via FTP and check for the class-mail.php file.

Make sure anonymous FTP is turned off, and back up your database just in case you have to reinstall Wordpress completely!

It may also help to steer clear of plugins and themes from untrusted sources, as they may have vulnerabilities - especially older ones that were not built for the latest versions of Wordpress.

The Name Inspector also suggests upgrading to the latest version of Wordpress, but I couldn't find info on the forums regarding that. Most of the comments state that the problem occurs with all versions, and is most likely a weakness in themes, plugins, and passwords. However, the new version has updated security features to it can't hurt to go ahead to upgrade. Just follow the instructions on the forums carefully and be prepared to run into some of the bugs, in case they happen to pop up!

I know we have a lot of strong bloggers around here and I hope this helps keep us all safe!

Have a great weekend!

__________________
Brianna Young, VA and Graphic Artist
www.virtualsolutionsadmin.com
"It's not the piano that makes beautiful music. It's the person sitting AT the piano!"

Hi Brianna,
Great tips especially as I start out into Blogland. I did just read about this happening to another VA on her blog and she said that her blog was essentially banned from Google for it and she's having trouble getting back into Google's good graces for search and ranking.

What do you do after you find the bad code and get it out of there to get back in with the search engines?

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

You actually have to contact Google and ask for what is called a reinclusion. They will only approve a reinclusion if the problem links are gone. The actual "rule" that is violated is Google's policy on hidden links. It's a big no-no and for some crazy reason, that's what these attackers are doing.

Edit: I should note that having links in your footer is totally fine - as long as they are visible to the reader and as long as they don't violate Google's guidelines, which can be found if you follow the link above.

__________________
Brianna Young, VA and Graphic Artist
www.virtualsolutionsadmin.com
"It's not the piano that makes beautiful music. It's the person sitting AT the piano!"