Malware, or malicious software, is any program or file that is intentionally designed to harm computers, networks or servers. Some examples of malware are: viruses, worms, Trojan viruses, spyware, adware, and ransomware. Hackers use malicious software to gain unauthorized access to websites in order to create all types of damage, and/or or spread malware to other sites. Fortunately, there are many paid and free WordPress malware scanners and plugins that can identify and clean all types of malicious activities on a WordPress site.
Some scanners are more powerful than others. Most Free scanners have some limitations. They can only find and identify the malware, while paid malware removal plugins have the ability to clean the malicious codes from the website. Let’s have a look at the best WordPress Malware scanners and plugins that you can use to check whether your website is being attacked or not?
1- Sucuri SiteCheck, Malware scanner
Sucuri is known to be one of the best WordPress security tools that can be used to protect your website form hackers and malware using the latest security software including a WAF (web Application firewall). Suuri offers a free online Malware scanner that can check if a site has malware or blacklisted. You can use their SiteCheck tool to check your site online or download their free plugin and install it to harden your website security. Their paid version contains more features and includes a firewall that prevents DDoS Attacks
2- PC Risk Malware Scanner:
PC -Risk scanner is a free online website malware scanner that can be used to check any website for malware and gives you a detailed report about its findings. This free scanner is good in providing extra information about malicious activities on the WordPress site. It gives you information about hidden iframes, infected files, malicious codes and vulnerability exploits, etc.
3- MalCare WordPress Malware Scanner and Plugin
Malcare is a very Powerful WordPress security plugin and malware scanner plugin that offers free Malware scanning with the most advanced results. Malware scanner performs a deep scan against more than 100 signals to ensure that not a signal malicious code is missed.
MalCare Features:
- keep your site secure without slowing it down
- Automatic malware scans,
- One-click malware removal
- Real-time firewall
- Complete security of your website
Malcare syncs every single part of the WordPress website and tracks every little change to zero down on the precise location of Malware. It also checks whether the website is safe for Google browsing or not. It also scans other malware blacklists to make sure that the website does not contain any virus and safe for the visitors to visit. The free version of Malcare plugin provides you with scan results and shows you if your site is infected or not. The paid version can remove malware and clean your website.
4- SiteGuarding free online Malware scanner
SiteGuarding offer’s one of the advanced free Malware Scanning tools for WordPress websites. It checks Malware activities on the website from very basic to advance and sends a full report on your email ID. Its free scanning tools also include options like Spam SEO checking, Blacklist checking, external link scanning, and Antivirus scanning, etc.
SiteGuarding scans dozens of different signals which include PHP mailers scan, .htaccess checking, hidden iframes, and website defacements, etc. It also works on phishing page selection and social engineering attacks to ensure that not a single virus is missed.
5- Safe Browsing site status
You easily use this google tool to check if your site
Google’s Safe Browsing tool examines billions of URLs per day looking for unsafe websites. If a it detects an unsafe site, it show warnings on Google Search and in web browsers.
You can search to see whether your website it ( or any website ) is currently dangerous to visit, by using this link
https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search
Summary
A website scanner or a plugin is an important tools that can be used to scan any website for malicious code, hidden iframes, vulnerability exploits, infected files and other suspicious activities. The are many WordPress scanners and plugins, but I only mentioned the most popular ones.
It is important to have a powerful malware plugin installed on your site such as Malcare or Sucuri to track, detect any remove any malicious activities on your website.