When you are the most popular content management system in the world and the preferred online publishing platform for millions of businesses and loved by thousands of website developers and website designers, it’s inevitable that at some point in time, WordPress will become a prime target for attacks by hackers.

In 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to large-scale brute-force attacks.

These attacks were caused by computers infected with malware and programmed to attack other sites, also commonly known as “botnets”.

How To Protect Your WordPress Site From A Brute-Force Attack

Brute-Force Attacks

A brute-force attack is a technique used to break an encryption or authentication system by trying all possibilities.

(Source: Chinese University Of Hong Kong)

There are many ways hackers try to break into a WordPress site. One of these is by trying to guess the site’s administration login username and password. This is achieved using scripts and software that automatically tries to guess hundreds of login permutations in minutes.

If you’re not using strong usernames or unguessable passwords, your site can be an easy target for hackers.

This is called a “brute-force” login attack.

Botnet Definition

A botnet is a number of Internet-connected computers communicating with other similar machines in an effort to complete repetitive tasks and objectives. This can be as mundane as keeping control of an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel, or it could be used to send spam email or participate in distributed denial-of-service attacks. The word botnet is a combination of the words robot and network.

(Source: Wikipedia.org)

”Botnets” are networks of private computers that have been infected with malicious code, which are then controlled remotely as a group, typically without the computer owners’ knowledge.

Botnets are typically used to blast mass spam emails from computers of unsuspecting users.

The screenshot below was taken from a site that monitors online security showing the locations of the command centers of a botnet that has been actively compromising computer networks all around the globe since 2009 called “Zeus” …

(ZeuS is a botnet that has been actively infecting computer networks all around the globe since 2009. Screenshot source: SecureList.com)

These botnet attacks are highly distributed and well organized. Over 90,000 IP addresses were identified by a number of hosting companies in the initial attack, when millions of attempts to force their way into WordPress site administration areas took place. The worldwide attacks continued after this, with over 30,000 WordPress sites being hacked per day.

News of this worldwide brute force botnet attack was widely reported in all the major webhosting companiesand leading technology media publications, such as Forbes, TechNews Daily, PC Magazine, Tech Crunch, BBC News, and even on the official website of the US Department of Homeland Security …

(WordPress is the world’s most popular CMS which makes it a natural target for hacking attempts)

Does This Mean We Shouldn’t Use WordPress Anymore?

No. In fact, there are lots of very good reasons why you should use WordPress if you are concerned about the security of your web presence.

We explain what makes WordPress a very secure platform for websites in this article: WordPress Security What Every Blog Owner Needs To Know About WordPress

It’s important to note that, in the case of April 2013 brute force attack described above, there was actually no WordPress vulnerability being exploited (the same script was also targeting sites built using other CMS platforms like Joomla).

Mike Little, the co-founder of WordPress, made the following comment about the botnet attacks:

It is a “simple” script that attempts to login using the admin login and a generated password. So if your password is too short or based on dictionary words it will be guessed and then the script can login legitimately and do whatever it wants including installing scripts (as plugins) or editing files. The attack tries to guess your password, if it succeeds, the most secure site in the world is wide open because they have your password.

(MikeLittle.org)

Preventing Your WordPress Site From Brute Force Attacks – 10 Security Measures

You may think that the information in your website offers little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to benefit or profit at your expense.

If hackers can find a web software vulnerability, the site can then be used to target other valuable sites.

Additional undesirable effects of having your site hacked include being blacklisted by search engines, having stealthy spam links advertising things like online meds, cheap offers on brand names, etc. inserted into your content, malicious redirects to phishing sites and other websites, data exfiltration (stealing information or Personal Identifiable Information from your web applications), and many other nasties.

The reality is that brute-force software bots are most likely trying to hack into your website as you are reading this page right now. Whether they will get in or not, depends on how hard or easy you have made it for hackers and botnets to keep persisting until they either can find a way to get access, or are forced to give up and go look for a less secure target.

How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?

If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …

(WordPress Security Check Source: Hackertarget.com)

You will see that the check will return a number of results and information about your website …

(Hackertarget – website security check results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)

It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to access all of this information, then hackers can too.

(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)

The ability to see which version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed on your site, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories on your server can all be potentially useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about potential vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.

If your site or blog is powered by WordPress and you’re not proactive steps to bolster the security of your site, then it’s practically guaranteed that, at some point, your site will be hacked, or at least targeted by bots, because these attacks are systematically targeting WordPress sites around the world!

Typically, whenever a site gets compromised, site owners can discover much to their dismay that they have been “locked out” of their own site, or notice that their content has been modified or that everything has been entirely wiped out. Often, compromised sites will be infected with malicious software without the owner’s knowledge or awareness.

To help avoid the heartache and aggravation (and significant loss of valuable business data) that comes with having your web site being hacked into, below are 10 essential and effective security checks that will help to protect your WordPress site from being attacked by brute force botnets.

Note: A few of the measures below need some technical understanding of how to modify core WordPress and/or server files. If you have no technical skills, or don’t want to mess around with file code, then ask your web host or a professional WordPress technical provider for assistance.

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Security Measure #1 – Contact Your Hosting Provider

Get in touch with your hosting service and ask them what security measures are in place to protect your site from brute force attacks, and what is done to ensure that your files and data get regularly backed up.

Check that your hosting provider backs up your server files and that, if disaster strikes, you can easily get your files back.

Security Measure #2 – Perform Regular WordPress Backups And Keep Your Site Frequently Up-To-Date

You should never rely on your webhosting provider for your site backups. Instead, learn how to maintain your WordPress site or get this done for you and develop a habit of performing a complete WordPress site maintenance routine frequently (e.g. weekly, fortnightly, etc …)

A complete WordPress maintenance routine ensures that:

• All unnecessary data and files are deleted,
• All data and files are free of errors, optimized and backed up,
• All plugins, themes and software components are up-to-date,
• etc …

A complete WordPress site maintenance routine looks like this …

(Maintaining your WordPress installation completely backed up and updated is vitally important for WordPress security. Screenshot: WPTrainMe.com)

Again, we cannot stress enough how vitally important it is to maintain your WordPress site backed up and up-to-date. WP site maintenance is not hard to do or time-consuming, but it must be done to ensure the security of your website or blog. If you don’t want to learn how to do WordPress maintenance yourself, get someone else to do it but make sure it gets done. Backing up your website is the second most important thing you should do after making sure that you still have a pulse!

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Clone & Protect Your WP Web Site With Backup Creator WP Plugin

Security Measure #3 – Do Not Use “Admin” As Your Admin Username

The mass brute-force attack on WordPress sites was mostly attempting to compromise website admin panels and gain access to the site by exploiting sites that used “admin” as their user name.

For reasons of website security, avoid setting up a WordPress site with the username admin. This is the first thing hackers will test. If your blog’s user name is admin, change it immediately.

For a tutorial for WordPress admin users that shows you how to change your WordPress username, go here: Changing Your WP Username From Admin To Another User Name

Security Measure #4 – Avoid Weak Passwords

A “brute force” attack occurs when a malicious script continually and persistently hits a login or password field with different strings of characters in an attempt to guess the right combination that will unlock your website.

Unless you put some measure in place to stop the brute force attack from happening (see further below for a couple of effective ways to do this), the “bot” will just continue attacking your site until it eventually breaks into your admin area.

Weak passwords, therefore, become very easy targets for bot attacks. Make sure that you change your password combination to something that is at least eight or nine characters long, with upper and lowercase letters, combined with “special” characters (^%$#&@*).

If you have trouble coming up with strong passwords or feel reluctant to set up different passwords for all of your online logins, then use a password software tool like Roboform …

(You can use a password management program like Roboform to generate strong login passwords)

We have created a simple tutorial for non-technical WordPress users on how to change your login password here: What To Do If You Need To Change Your WordPress Password

Security Measure #5 – Protect Your wp-config.php File

The wp-config.php file allows WordPress to communicate with the database to store and retrieve data and is used to define advanced options for WordPress.

(wp-config.php)

If a hacker breaks into your WordPress site, they will look for your wp-config.php file, because this file contains your database details, security keys, etc. Getting access to this information would allow them to change anything in your database, create a user account, upload files and take control of your site.

To protect your WordPress site from being attacked and even being used as part of a bot net, therefore, prevent your wp-config.php file from being easily accessed. This requires knowing how to edit database information, move files around in your server and changing access permissions.

Security Measure #6 – Rename Or Delete Unnecessary Installation Files

Delete or rename your install.php, upgrade.php and readme.html files.

These files are not required after installation. If you don’t want to remove these files, just rename them.

Security Measure #7 – Update Your WordPress Software, Themes & Plugins

Hackers look for vulnerabilities they can exploit in previous versions of WordPress, including outdated versions of WordPress plugins and themes.

Make sure to always keep your installation files, plugins, themes, etc. up-to-date.

Security Measure #8 – Disable Your Theme Editor

WordPress installations come with a built-in editor that lets the site administrator edit theme and plugin files inside the dashboard area.

In WordPress, you can access the WordPress Theme Editor by selecting Appearance > Editor from the admin menu …

(Accessing the WordPress theme editor via the WordPress dashboard menu)

This means that anyone logging into your site’s admin area can see and modify all of your WordPress theme templates, and create mayhem on your site.

If you want to prevent people from being able to access the WordPress Theme editor, you will need to disable it. This can be done by editing your wp-config.php file.

Security Measure #9 – Remove Access To The Site’s Uploads Directory

The “uploads” directory contains all the media files that get uploaded to your blog.

Normally, this folder is visible to all users online. All a person needs to do to view the contents stored in the “uploads” folder is visit your directory using their web browser …

(WordPress has an uploads directory where media content is stored)

If any files stored in his folder have weaknesses or vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers or malicious users, this can become a serious threat to the security of your site.

Protecting your directories will prevent unauthorized people from viewing your ‘uploads’ folder and other important directories. This can be done using plugins, setting file permissions, uploading a blank index.php file (this is literally an empty file called “index.php”) to your uploads directory, and so on. Again, it’s best to seek professional help if you are unsure about what to do.

Security Measure #10 – Install Security Plugins

There are some great security plugins for WordPress available that will address common security issues WordPress website owners face, such as preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to vital information about your site, protecting your site from brute-force attacks, preventing injections of code into files, etc.

Many WordPress plugins address some but not all areas of WordPress security. One WordPress security plugin that does a comprehensive job of scanning, fixing and preventing issues that could lead to hackers accessing your website files and damaging your site is SecureScanPro.

(SecureScanPro – WP total security software)

SecureScanPro is easy to install and easy to use, and takes care of most of the security areas that WordPress users need to address.

Another great security plugin you may want to look at using is BlogDefender.

Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

(Blog Defender)

Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.

BlogDefender scans you WordPress site for security holes …

And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …

If you don’t want to buy a premium security plugin like SecureScanPro or BlogDefender, then use various free plugins, such as Limit Login Attempts …

WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress software, plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.

Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of web security.

As one last reminder, below is the advice given by a security expert to all WordPress users following the large-scale brute force attacks by botnets on WordPress in 2013 …

Owners of websites based on WordPress CMS must improve at least basic security settings and implement best practices such as the use of robust passwords and the accurate management of “admin” accounts.

Pierluigi Paganini, Chief Information Security Officer, Security Affairs

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As you can see, WordPress security is of the utmost importance if you run a WordPress site. Hopefully, the information in this article has shown you what to do to keep your WordPress site protected from brute force attacks. If you need any further help or assistance with WordPress security, please seek help from a professional WordPress security specialist, or search for a professional WordPress technical provider in our WordPress Services Directory.

Also, please remember to subscribe to WPCompendium.org to receive notifications whenever we publish new articles on WordPress security and tutorials about new security plugins.

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