Skip to main content Screen Reader Website Version
Get a Quote
Home Web Design SEO Services ADA Compliance Hosting & Support Custom Web Applications Our Work About Blog Contact

HotOpponents Hack

We have seen this one a few times coming from WordPress but we have also seen it in Google Analytics code or simply in a header.php file. HotOpponents is a simple redirect script but really digs down and makes roots for itself throughout your website files and database.  Here’s how we got rid of it in WordPress. Of course, you can always call us and we can clean this for you!

If you’re on a shared server, ask us about dedicated server support: we get you on a super-secure dedicated server for about the same cost as an insecure, slow, shared server (most common setup).

  1. Locate your wp-config.php file and note the database name.
  2. Open PHPMyAdmin and locate the database.
  3. Open SQL Statements and insert the following

    Remember to replace your table prefix here with the one in your database.
    Also, take notice of the GET variables in the URL, sometimes the tp=2 is different. We’ve seen zzz=3 and jp=88
  4.  That should remove the hotopponents script from your database.
  5. Replace ALL wordpress files with a clean version
  6. Next, log in via FTP and quarantine your plugins and theme files.
    1. download all files and search for malware manually – in obvious spots – header.php, index, etc…
    2. Scan your site with https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/ 
    3. Remove any malware. Many times it’s just better to flush plugins and reinstall them all, then just overwrite your theme files with the latest version or a backup.
  7. Download and install WordFence and do a site scan
  8. Finally, update all your passwords (account, (S)FTP, WordPress)
  9. Backup your site.

Nasty little hack/redirect script from some ridiculously infantile folks.

 

More Web Design Blog Content

Maintaining Correct Site Structure

One of the biggest holes in a client’s SEO (pre livewire SEO, that is) is almost always the site structure. So many SEO companies focus on content and backlinks that quality code is often overlooked. There are many cases where we have come into the tail end of

HotOpponents Hack

We have seen this one a few times coming from WordPress but we have also seen it in Google Analytics code or simply in a header.php file. HotOpponents is a simple redirect script but really digs down and makes roots for itself throughout your website files and database. 

Maintaining The Correct Keyword Density

Keyword density, by definition, is the number of times, expressed in a percentage, that a particular keyphrase or keyword appears in a body of text. So if your keyword appears 4 times and the number of words on the page is 200 then your keyword density is 2%.

Gainesville Web Marketing

North West Mini Storage and Warehouse is a new client of ours. We started optimizing their site about 3 weeks from the date of this post. Already a page 1 contender, our client now enjoys a surge in search engine traffic – all organic, all of it white

Answerhub versus WordPress

Recently we worked on a project with intent to use AnswerHub as the primary vehicle for user interaction. After spending some time in AnswerHub’s admin we discovered that they don’t provide anything that you cannot accomplish with easy under the WordPress hood. While AH supplies you with a

Conversion Optimization

So many people have a myopic outlook on SEO and SEM. They tend to focus on optimization as strawberry field, where you can just pick a little fruit from here or there and fill up your basket. Not so fast. It’s not just about having a full basket,