Rescuing a WordPress install using UpdraftPlus Backup Plugin

I run a number of websites that use WordPress as the content management system. Recently, one of these websites was compromised because the web host was “hacked”. A script on the website was then used to send lots of spam emails which resulted in the web host completely blocking access to the website, including not allowing me access to remove the offending script or retrieve the content.

Fortunately, I had installed the UpdraftPlus Backup plugin for WordPress which automatically backs up the database, theme, plugins and any other non-core files it finds on the server. These backups are copied to Dropbox automatically and I keep about 12 months of backups. I logged in to Dropbox and could see a full set of backups from the previous night.

I quickly setup a new account on another web host, changed the A-record for the domain in Cloudflare to point to the new server, installed the latest version of WordPress using Softaculous and installed the UpdraftPlus Backup plugin. I then uploaded the latest backups and clicked Restore.

The website was live again! All of my content and themes, plugins, configuration were there. Total time to restore was about 15 minutes.

Thanks UpdraftPlus!