What Should I Do Right Away If My WooCommerce Site Gets Hacked?

[sanjeevm]

I opened my store today and found strange redirects and a few products I never added. Customers are also complaining about spam emails.
What should I do first so I don’t lose orders or customer data?

[Samael]

Act quickly, but in order. Rushing into random fixes can destroy evidence or make things worse.

1. Put the site in maintenance mode: this stops customers from checking out on a compromised site and protects their payment details.
2. Change every credential: WordPress admin users, hosting panel, FTP/SFTP, database password, and payment gateway API keys. Remove any admin users you don’t recognize.
3. Contact your host: many hosts can restore a clean backup and tell you how the attacker got in.
4. Scan for malware: use a security scanner to find injected code, then compare core files against fresh copies of WordPress, your theme, and plugins.
5. Remove the entry point: outdated plugins, nulled themes, and weak passwords are the usual causes. Update or delete anything you don’t need.
6. Restore from a clean backup if needed: pick one from before the first sign of trouble, then update everything immediately.
7. Check Google Search Console: look for security warnings or spam pages that were indexed, and request a review once the site is clean.
8. Review your customer data exposure: if order or account data may have been accessed, check what your local privacy rules require you to tell customers.
9. Prevent a repeat: enable two-factor authentication, limit login attempts, keep daily off-site backups, and test updates on a staging site first.Do this before festive season too, since attackers love peak traffic periods. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see: What to Do if Your WordPress Website Hacked?

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