ScanTitan detects infections at the file and database level, removes every trace including hidden backdoors, clears your site from Google Safe Browsing and other blocklists, then deploys a WAF so the same attacker can’t walk back in.
680,000+ sites found infected in 6 months
Backdoors · SEO spam · Card skimmers · Redirect scripts
WordPress · Joomla · Magento · Drupal · Custom PHP
Avg infection active 44 days before detection
Website malware removal is the process of detecting, eliminating, and preventing malicious code that attackers inject into web files, databases, and server configurations. Most website owners find out they’ve been infected the wrong way — a customer emails to say their browser is throwing a “Deceptive Site Ahead” warning, or Google Search Console flags a manual action.
By that point, the malware has usually been active for weeks. The infections that cause the most damage aren’t the visible ones. Backdoors — hidden PHP files or injected database entries — often survive a basic cleanup. SEO spam injections silently redirect mobile visitors to pharmaceutical or gambling sites. Credit card skimmers sit in WooCommerce checkout JavaScript, exfiltrating payment data one transaction at a time without triggering any visible change.
ScanTitan scans externally — no plugin, no server agent — which means we detect infections that server-side tools miss, including injections that only appear in HTTP responses sent to browsers, not to your WordPress admin panel.
Four stages: external detection, file-level cleanup, blocklist removal, and hardening. Each stage addresses a specific failure point that leaves sites vulnerable to reinfection.
Our scanner connects to your site externally — no plugin, no server-side agent. We crawl every page, inspect HTTP responses, analyze JavaScript, and check for indicators of compromise across your file structure and database. We flag: backdoors, redirect scripts, obfuscated PHP, pharma hack injections, SEO spam, phishing pages embedded in subfolders, and malicious iframes.
We connect via SFTP or cPanel and document every infected file before touching it. We remove malicious code from WordPress core files, wp-config.php, .htaccess, wp-content/uploads, and your database — including eval() loaders, base64-encoded payloads, and obfuscated loaders that re-download malware on the next page load.
A clean site still on Google Safe Browsing, Norton Safe Web, McAfee SiteAdvisor, or Yandex's blocklist will still lose traffic. We submit removal requests to each authority on your behalf and verify delisting before closing the incident. Google Search Console review typically resolves within 24–72 hours.
Cleanup without hardening is a temporary fix. We patch known vulnerabilities, reset compromised credentials (admin, FTP, database), update outdated plugins and themes, and configure a WAF to block the attack vectors that were used. The same exploit that got in once will be tried again — usually within days.
Real result — A WooCommerce store had a Magecart-style credit card skimmer injected into checkout JavaScript. ScanTitan’s external scan detected the obfuscated payload in 4 hours. File-level removal + WAF deployment followed. PCI compliance restored and Google blocklist cleared within 48 hours.
Website malware removal is the emergency response. The eight services below cover the full lifecycle detection, removal, protection, and continuous monitoring.
External scanner checks your site against known malware signatures, behavioral patterns, and blocklist databases without installing anything on your server. Identifies infected file locations, malicious code injections, and indicators of compromise across your entire domain including subdomains.
Our incident response team handles the full cleanup: file-level removal, database sanitization, backdoor elimination, and blocklist delisting. Fixed-price, no hidden fees per infection complexity. If the attacker returns within the covered period, we return too.
Some infections use obfuscation base64-encoded payloads, eval() chains, or YARA-detectable shellcode to hide from signature-based scanners. Our code analyzer deobfuscates and reverse-engineers suspicious code to identify the payload, injection method, and persistence mechanism.
WordPress powers 43% of the web, the most-targeted CMS by volume. Our WordPress-native security layer adds brute force protection, login security, file integrity monitoring, and real-time firewall rules. Works alongside, not instead of your external scanning layer.
Continuous monitoring scans your site on a scheduled basis — daily or more frequently and alerts you within minutes of a new infection, a modified core file, or a new blocklist entry. Monitoring catches reinfection before your visitors do.
Prevention is cheaper than remediation. ScanTitan's protection layer combines vulnerability patching, virtual patching for known CMS vulnerabilities, and proactive blocklist monitoring to reduce your site's attack surface. Includes GDPR Article 32 compliance alignment for sites handling personal data.
A WAF sits between the internet and your web server, inspecting every HTTP request before it reaches your application. ScanTitan's cloud-based WAF blocks SQLi, XSS, remote file inclusion, and malicious bot traffic. For vulnerabilities that can't be patched immediately, the WAF provides virtual patching to block exploitation in the meantime.
DDoS attacks are often used as cover for malware deployment — while your team responds to the availability incident, the attacker plants backdoors through an unrelated vector. ScanTitan's DDoS mitigation filters volumetric attacks at the network edge, keeping your site online while the threat is absorbed.
| Threat Type | Malware Scanner | Removal Service | WAF | Monitoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backdoor / PHP shell | ✓ Detects | ✓ Removes | ✓ Blocks re-entry | ✓ Alerts on new files |
| SEO spam injection | ✓ Detects | ✓ Removes | ✓ Blocks SQLi vectors | ✓ Monitors content changes |
| Credit card skimmer | ✓ Detects (JS) | ✓ Removes | ✓ Blocks JS injection | ✓ Alerts on script changes |
| Redirect script | ✓ Detects | ✓ Removes | ✓ Blocks .htaccess writes | ✓ Monitors redirects |
| DDoS traffic flood | — Not malware | — N/A | ✓ Rate limiting | ✓ Uptime monitoring |
| Brute force login | — Post-compromise | — N/A | ✓ Blocks attempts | ✓ Login attempt alerts |
required, any CMS, any hosting provider
Server-side tools only see what your server can see. Our external scanner sees what a browser — and Google’s crawler — actually receives. That distinction is why we regularly detect infections that plugins and server agents miss entirely.
An SEO spam injection that redirects only mobile visitors using JavaScript won’t appear in your WordPress admin panel. It won’t show in server-side logs. It’ll be invisible to a plugin scanning your file system. Our external scanner detects it because we connect the way your visitors do.
We scan WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal, and custom PHP applications the same way — no plugin, no DNS change, no server access needed for the detection phase.
SEO spam injections often redirect only mobile visitors or only first-time visitors — invisible to admins browsing the site on desktop. Our scanner emulates different user agents and visitor states.
Every infection finding includes the exact file path, line number, and code snippet — so cleanup is targeted, not guesswork. SFTP-level access is used only during the cleanup phase.
ScanTitan is headquartered in the Netherlands. Incident response data handling is GDPR Article 32 compliant by default — relevant for EU businesses and any site handling personal data.
Real outcomes across WordPress, WooCommerce, and custom CMS cleanup engagements.
Answered by our security team — not a chatbot.
Common signs include: Google showing a "Deceptive Site Ahead" warning in Chrome, your hosting provider suspending your account, unusual redirects (especially on mobile), Google Search Console flagging security issues under the Security Issues report, unexpected new admin user accounts in your WordPress dashboard, and sudden drops in organic traffic. The most dangerous infections show none of these signs — backdoors and card skimmers run silently. An external malware scan against a live database of malware signatures and behavioral patterns is the only reliable confirmation your site is clean.
A standard malware cleanup on a WordPress site takes 4–12 hours from initial scan to completed remediation, depending on infection complexity. Obfuscated backdoors or database-level infections with multiple persistence mechanisms take longer. Google blocklist removal adds 24–72 hours for the review request to be processed by Google — this runs in parallel with cleanup, not after it, so your total time to being fully clean and delisted is typically 24–72 hours from scan start.
Yes — and this is the most common failure mode. Attackers plant backdoors specifically so they can return after a surface-level cleanup. Malware returns for two reasons: a surviving backdoor that wasn't found and removed, or an unpatched vulnerability that lets the attacker re-exploit the same entry point. In our experience, reinfection within 48 hours is almost always caused by one of these two — not by the attacker returning manually. WAF deployment, credential resets, and vulnerability patching after cleanup is what prevents this cycle.
No. ScanTitan scans externally — we connect to your site as a browser or crawler would, without installing anything on your server. This approach detects infections that server-side plugins miss, including injections in HTTP responses that only appear to external visitors, not to your WordPress admin panel. SFTP or cPanel access is only required during the cleanup phase, and that's a one-time, scoped connection your team controls.
Malware removal clears the infection — but Google's blacklist warning doesn't disappear automatically. After cleanup, a manual removal request must be submitted through Google Search Console under the Security Issues report. Google typically processes these reviews within 24–72 hours. ScanTitan submits this request on your behalf as part of the remediation process and monitors for delisting confirmation before closing the engagement.
ScanTitan removes: backdoors (PHP shells, eval() loaders, obfuscated re-downloaders), SEO spam injections (pharma hack, Japanese keyword hack, cloaked redirects), redirect scripts (.htaccess-based and JavaScript-based), credit card skimmers (Magecart-style JS injections targeting WooCommerce and Magento), phishing pages embedded in site subdirectories, malicious iframes, drive-by download scripts, and database-level malware including wp_options spam and injected admin accounts.
Sucuri and Wordfence are built primarily for WordPress and require either a plugin or a DNS-level proxy. ScanTitan scans externally — no plugin, no DNS change, any CMS. We also combine malware removal with vulnerability scanning and attack surface management in one platform, which means we identify the vulnerability that allowed the infection, not just the infection itself. Fixing the entry point is what prevents the next attack — which is the piece most malware removal services skip.
Yes. ScanTitan scans individual domains, WordPress multisite installations, and multi-domain environments under agency or reseller plans. Each domain is scanned independently, with findings organized by domain and subdomain. If you manage websites for clients, ask about our agency pricing — it covers malware scanning, removal credits, and monitoring across your entire client portfolio.
We’d rather tell you now than after you’ve signed up.
Website malware removal is only the first step. The same vulnerability that let the attacker in will be probed again — usually within days. ScanTitan scans for active infections, removes every trace including hidden backdoors, clears your blocklist status, and deploys a WAF to block the attack vector before it’s used twice.
OSCP · CISSP · 12 years in web application security · Author profile →
