IR-006 • Anonymized recovery report
Spam Redirect Infection
Visitors from mobile and search were redirected to unwanted destinations.
Business impact
Visitors from mobile and search were redirected to unwanted destinations.
Symptoms observed
- Redirects only from Google traffic
- Mobile visitors affected more often
- No obvious issue in WordPress admin
Investigation
The investigation focused on confirming active compromise, mapping the infection scope and identifying whether the incident was caused by vulnerable software, compromised access, injected database content or persistent backdoor code.
Root cause
Conditional redirect code was injected to target specific devices and referrers.
Recovery actions
- Reproduced the redirect with controlled user agents
- Checked .htaccess, theme files and database options
- Removed redirect payloads
- Reviewed cache and CDN behavior
- Added monitoring recommendations
Hardening
After cleanup, the site should be hardened around the root cause: update or replace vulnerable components, rotate credentials, remove unnecessary administrators, review file permissions and add monitoring for recurring indicators.
Outcome
Redirects stopped and the owner received a list of indicators to watch.
FAQ
Is this a real client name?
No. Reports are anonymized to protect client privacy. The structure reflects real-world recovery scenarios and common incident patterns.
Can WP•FIX provide a similar report?
Yes. Business recovery cases can include a clear summary of symptoms, findings, recovery actions, likely root cause and hardening recommendations.
Why is root cause important?
Without root-cause work, malware can return through the same backdoor, vulnerable plugin, compromised account or hosting-level access path.
Need a recovery report for your incident?
Open an incident and include the URL, symptoms, recent changes and any Google or hosting warnings.
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