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Malware in WordPress website, Website Size 200 GB, Chinese on google – Case Study 1

Malware In WordPress Website, Website Size 200 GB, Chinese On Google – Case Study 1

Few years back, Aquila Techs came across great challenge, A nightmare for our Tech Team to Fix. One of our Client’s 10-Year-Old Website got Infected with Malware, whole website was appearing translated in Chinese on google and all the links redirecting to different scam pages.  The pressure was huge as the Website contained 10 years of data, and size of website was about 200 GB. So, the margin for even a minor mistake was next to none!

Malware Removal

This all began on otherwise fine morning when client reached us about the Pop Ups coming up on their website. Website was showing up Pop Ups and On google search redirecting customer to different porn sites and other scam website. Website was showing up Chinese and again redirecting to scam pages instead of the original Ones.

We started to perform Malware Cleanup in the beginning, Once the cleanup was done, we thought that was it but the suspicion occurred when malware kept on coming back again and again, That was the moment we realized that the major problem was with server that that it’s hacked

Server Side Issue

We had the cPanel access but we couldn’t do much as it was Shared Hosting from a big renowned Daddy Company, lol. When we called their Support they said buy our Security Package which was totally irrelevant to get. We even deleted everything from cPanel as well at the end but still the malware files were coming back again and again. We showed them on a phone a call and they were dumb enough to again sell File Security System when there were no files, When I say no files it means, No hidden files Either. So at this Point We decided that we got to move the site to another Host, This hosting is not going to help us. By the way it was charging 50$/month to the client, A Shared Server with 50$/month + SSL Cost.

Huge Data Files 

Since it was a 10 years Old website with thousands of images. It was around 90 GB, This was a big challenge for us. Gladly we had SSH access and our Dev App guy was able to transfer those files. 100 Files in just under 5 minutes. The whole process was smooth and we didn’t face any hurdles. On FTP or something else it would have taken years.  But with SSH We are able to get all of this done with in just two weeks. 

Once the site was malware free and was moved on Live server, The next task was to remove all the Chinese and to do it fast because the more time this take, the lower our ranking go. So, All the Chinese text was removed as well within 24 hours. Then we indexed our website on google search again and within next one week we are able to get our keywords back on their positions. Now, the website is live and generating more traffic. 

Conclusion

Working in IT industry comes with it’s own set of problems, server and website gets hacked a problem can come out of no where but what matters is how you tackle them. Right strategy in the right time using right technology is what Aquila Techs always aim for. We believe in team work and finding the right solution while staying put.