Step-by-step site repair
- Hopefullly, this detailed step-by-step procedure will help focus on
the tasks and avoid panic. - The concepts apply to any server even though only Linux,
Apache, and cPanel methods are described. - The steps are in order of priority if the evidence you’ve found so
far hasn’t already given you a clear idea
what things to focus on first.
The reason these procedures are described in so much detail is so
that people who have never done them don’t have to go
hunting around the web for specifics. If you already know the specifics,
you’ll see that the steps are much less complicated than
they look at first glance, and you can skip the long explanations.
If you just start at step 1, focus, and dive in, what you learn now
will
help you manage your
site with a lot more confidence in the future. These are all useful
things to know how to do. You might even wind up feeling like
an expert.
What not to do
Don’t just repair the damaged files and hope this experience doesn’t
happen again. That is not enough.
Nobody is ever supposed to be
able to add, delete, or change files in your website without your
permission. It
should never happen, and it usually doesn’t. Most websites don’t get
hacked. If yours did, there is something wrong with it, or
with the server, or with the webhost, or with the security on your PC.
You have to figure out how this happened so you can prevent
it from happening again.
Ok, let’s get started… The checkboxes are to help keep your place
as you go.