Hosting Account Suspended for Malware? How to Get Your Site Back Online

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1. Common reasons for suspension
2. Step 1: Read the notice carefully
3. Step 2: Ask your host the right questions
4. Step 3: Back up before cleaning
5. Step 4: Clean the whole account, not just one site
6. Step 5: Fix the cause
7. Step 6: Request a re-scan and reactivation
8. Step 7: Check Google and email reputation
9. Should you change hosts?

You open your website and see "Account Suspended", or your host emails to say your account has been disabled because of malware. It's stressful, but hosts suspend accounts to protect other customers and the server, and they will usually reactivate once the problem is fixed.

Common reasons for suspension

• Malware or malicious files detected by the host's scanner
• The account sending spam email; see website sending spam
• Phishing pages hosted on your site, often reported by third parties
• Excessive server resource use, sometimes caused by malware or bot attacks
• Unpaid invoices (check this first)

Step 1: Read the notice carefully

The email or support ticket usually says why the account was suspended and sometimes lists infected files. Keep it for reference.

Step 2: Ask your host the right questions

• Which files or activities triggered the suspension?
• Can they provide a full scan report?
• Can they give temporary access (for example, file access only, or access limited to your IP address) so you can clean the site?
• What do they need from you to reactivate the account?

Step 3: Back up before cleaning

Download the files and database. Even infected, this backup contains your real content.

Step 4: Clean the whole account, not just one site

If your account has several websites, old test sites or unused installs, all of them need checking. One neglected site can reinfect the others. Delete anything you don't need. Then follow the full malware clean-up process for each remaining site.

Step 5: Fix the cause

• Update WordPress, plugins and themes
• Remove nulled or abandoned plugins
• Change every password: hosting, SFTP, database, email and WordPress
• Remove backdoors; see finding backdoors

Step 6: Request a re-scan and reactivation

Tell the host what you found and fixed. Most hosts re-scan the account before lifting the suspension.

Step 7: Check Google and email reputation

After reactivation, check Search Console for security issues and check your domain on email blacklists. See fixing browser warnings.

Should you change hosts?

If suspensions keep happening, or your host offers little help, moving to better hosting with isolation between sites, malware scanning and backups may be worth it. But clean the site first; moving an infected site just moves the problem. See choosing WordPress hosting.

Need your site back online quickly? See WordPress malware removal.