My WordPress website was hacked. My hosting provider did not run any malware/antivirus scans and did not keep WordPress core or plugins updated. Rather than cleaning or recovering the site, they took it offline, zipped the files, and sent them to me. The domain is no longer active.
I now have a ZIP file (approximately 19GB) containing what I believe are my WordPress site files, but I have no way to unzip, inspect, or recover the content on my own.
File access: Given the size, I cannot attach this file directly on Guru. I will share a private cloud storage download link (Google Drive or Dropbox) with the freelancer I hire — please do not ask for the file to be attached publicly, since it may still contain compromised/malicious code from the original hack. Please confirm you have adequate local storage and a stable connection before applying, as downloading and working with a file this size will take real time on its own.
What I need help with:
- Download, safely unzip, and inspect the contents of the backup — ideally in an isolated/local environment, not uploaded directly to a live server, since the original site was compromised
- Determine what's actually in the archive — specifically whether it includes only site files (theme, plugins, wp-content/uploads) or also a database export (a .sql file), since my articles/post text live in the database, not in the file structure, unless a database dump was included
- If a database file is present: extract and recover my articles/blog posts from it
- If no database file is present: help recover as much article content as possible through alternative means (e.g., reconstructing from cached files, checking for WordPress export files, or cross-referencing with archived versions of my pages via the Wayback Machine)
- Recover and organize all image files from wp-content/uploads
- Scan all recovered files for malware/malicious code before any of it is reused, since the original hack was never cleaned up
- Give me access for 30 days or deliver the recovered content in an organized, usable format — articles as text/HTML/Word files paired with their corresponding images — and, ideally, in a format ready to re-import into a fresh WordPress install if I rebuild the site later.
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