WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers.

In 2013 a global brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every web host in existence.

These attacks were caused by infected computer networks programmed to attack other vulnerable sites (botnets).

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

What Is A Brute-Force Attack?

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 methods hackers use to try and break into WordPress sites. One of these is by trying to guess the site’s administration login username and password. This can be achieved with software programs that can work through hundreds of login combinations in minutes.

If you’re using easy-to-guess usernames and passwords, your website can be easily hacked by repeated attempts to work out your site’s login details.

This is called a “brute-force” 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)

A “Botnet” is a network of computers that have been compromised and infected with malicious code, which are then controlled remotely as a group, often without the computer owners even being aware that this is going on.

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

Below is a screenshot taken from an internet security monitoring site showing the locations of the command centers of a botnet that has been actively compromising computer networks all around the world since 2009 called “Zeus” …

(The Zeus botnet has been actively compromising computer networks all around the world since 2009. Screenshot source: SecureList.com)

These were highly distributed and well organized attacks on WordPress. Over 90,000 IP addresses were identified by several webhosting companies just in the initial attack, when millions of attempts to force their way into WordPress users administration areas took place. The worldwide attacks continued after this, with over 30,000 WordPress blogs being hacked per day.

Coverage of the large-scale brute-force attack was reported by all the major webhosting companies, as well as the leading technology media publications, such as Forbes, TechNews Daily, BBC News, PC Magazine, Tech Crunch, and even on the official website of the US Department of Homeland Security …

(Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress a target for attacks by malicious users)

Does This Mean We Shouldn’t Use WordPress Anymore?

No. In fact, there are many great reasons why you should choose WordPress if you are concerned at all about the security of your website.

We explain what makes WordPress a very secure platform for websites in this article: Is WordPress A Secure Platform For Websites?

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

Mike Little, the co-founder of WordPress, made the following comment about the brute-force 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)

Protecting Your WordPress Site From Brute Force Attacks – Ten Security Measures

Every web site with a vulnerability can be seen as a potential opportunity to hackers. A compromised website not only provides new hackers opportunities to improve their skills and win “respect” among their peers, but it can also acts as a resource for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and information theft.

If a malicious user can discover a software flaw in your security that allows them to gain any form of control of your website or blog, the website can then be employed to attack other valued websites.

Additional undesirable impacts of having your website hacked include getting blacklisted by search engines, having stealthy spam links promoting things like casinos, discounted fashion, etc. inserted into your content and meta data, malicious redirects to phishing sites, drive-by downloads (adding malicious software on your visitors’ computers), and many other nasty things.

The truth is that hackers are most likely trying to hack into your site at this very moment. Whether they can achieve this or not, depends on how difficult or easy you will make things for hackers to continue persisting until they work out a way to get in, or give up and decide to look for a less protected target.

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

Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …

(Hackertarget – Website Security Scan Screenshot source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)

You will see that the check returns a number of results and details about your WordPress installation …

(WordPress security check results. Source: Hackertarget.com)

It should be obvious after using the scanning tool that if you can see all of this information, then so can hackers.

(Source: BlogDefender site)

Being able 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 are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about any exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.

If your website is powered by WordPress and you are not taking steps to bullet-proof your site, then it’s practically guaranteed that, at some time in the near future, someone will attempt to hack your installation, because these brute force attacks are systematically targeting WordPress installations worldwide!

Typically, whenever a website or blog is hacked, website owners can discover much to their dismay that they have been “locked out” of their own site, or notice that their files have been interfered with or even that their content has been entirely wiped out. Typically, compromised sites will be infected with malicious scripts without the owner’s knowledge or awareness.

To avoid the heartache and aggravation (and potential financial loss) that comes with having your web site being hacked into, below are ten essential and effective security measures that will help to protect your WordPress site from being brute-force attacked.

Note: Some of the measures below require some technical skills to modify core WordPress 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 service provider for assistance.

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Security Measure #1 – Contact Your Web Host

Get in touch with your host and ask them exactly what security measures they have put into place to help prevent your site from brute force attacks, and what is done to make sure that your WordPress sites get backed up.

Make sure that your webhosting provider backs up your server files and that, if disaster strikes, you can quickly and easily recover your files and data.

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

You should never rely just on your host for your site backups. Instead, learn how to maintain your WordPress site or pay someone to get this done for you and maintain a habit of performing a full WordPress site maintenance routine on a frequent basis (e.g. weekly, monthly, etc …)

A complete WordPress maintenance routine ensures that:

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

A proper WordPress site maintenance routine looks like this …

(Maintaining your WP website or blog backed up and updated is vitally important for WordPress security. Image: WPTrainMe.com)

Again, we cannot stress enough how vitally important maintaining your WordPress site completely backed up and up-to-date is. WordPress 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 WP maintenance yourself, get someone else to do it but make sure this gets done. Backing up your website is the next most important thing you must 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 free and paid plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Clone And Keep Your WordPress Websites And Blogs Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

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

The brute force botnet attack on WordPress sites was mostly an attempt to compromise website admin panels and gain access to the site by exploiting installations that used “admin” as their username.

For website security reasons, don’t install WordPress sites with the username “admin”. This is the first thing hackers will test. If your blog’s user name is admin, you will should change it immediately.

We have created a detailed tutorial that shows you how to change your admin username here: How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username To Another Username

Security Measure #4 – Change Your Password

A “brute force” attack occurs when malicious software persistently tries to guess the right password and username character string that will unlock your website.

Unless you put some measure in place to block the brute force attack from happening (see further below for a couple of simple and effective suggestions for doing this), the “bot” will just continue attacking your site until it eventually “cracks” the code.

Passwords that are easy to guess, therefore, become very easy targets for attacks. Make sure that you change your password to something that contains at least eight characters long, with upper and lowercase letters, and add a few “special” characters (%^#$@&*).

You can use a password management program like Roboform to create strong login passwords …

(Roboform is a password software that lets you generate different secure passwords)

We have created a simple step-by-step tutorial for WP admin users on how to change your admin password here: What To Do If You Need To Change Your Password In WordPress

Security Measure #5 – Prevent The wp-config.php File From Being Easily Found

The wp-config.php file contains information about your blog’s database and is used to define advanced WordPress options.

(wp-config.php)

If hackers break into your site, they will typically search for your wp-config.php file, because this file contains important information about your site’s database, security keys, etc. Getting access to this information would allow a hacker to change anything in your database, create a user account, upload files and take control of your site.

In order 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 – Delete Or Rename Unnecessary Installation Files

Rename or delete the install.php, upgrade.php and readme.html files from your server.

These files can be removed after installation. If you don’t want to remove these files, then just rename them.

Security Measure #7 – Keep Your WordPress Files, Themes & Plugins Up-To-Date

Hackers are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities in outdated versions of WordPress that can be exploited, including outdated versions of WP plugins and themes.

Ensure that all of your files, themes, plugins, etc. are always up to date.

Security Measure #8 – Disable Your Theme Editor

WordPress installations come with a built-in editor that lets the administrator edit theme and plugin code from the dashboard.

You can access your WordPress Theme Editor by selecting Appearance > Editor in your dashboard menu …

(The WordPress theme editor can be accessed via the admin menu)

This allows anyone accessing your blog to view and edit your WordPress files, and cause havoc on your site.

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

Security Measure #9 – Secure Your WordPress Uploads Directory

The WordPress “uploads” directory stores all the media that gets uploaded to your website.

Normally, this folder is visible to anyone online. All someone has to do to see all of the contents in the “uploads” directory is visit the directory using their web browser …

(WordPress uploads folder)

If any directories in your website have weaknesses or vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious users, this could seriously threaten the security of your site.

Protecting your directories will prevent unauthorized people from accessing 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 a blank file named “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 WordPress Security Plugins

A number of WordPress security plugins are available that specifically address common security issues faced by WordPress website owners, such as preventing hackers from gaining access to vital areas of your site, protecting your files from brute-force attacks, preventing unauthorized file uploads, etc.

Many WordPress plugins address some but not all areas of WordPress security. One WordPress plugin that seems to do a comprehensive job of scanning, fixing and preventing potential issues that could lead to hackers accessing your site files and causing irreparable damage to your site is SecureScanPro.

(SecureScanPro – WP complete security software)

SecureScanPro is easy to install and easy to use, and does a great job of fixing most of the security issues that WordPress users need to address.

Another plugin you may want to consider using is BlogDefender.

Blog Defender

(Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress)

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

BlogDefender shows you where the security weaknesses in your web site are …

And lets you fix these quickly …

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

WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.

No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of web security.

As one last reminder of the importance of keeping your websites protected, below is the advice given by a website security expert to all WordPress users following the worldwide brute force attacks by botnets on WordPress in April 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, website 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 consult a professional WordPress security specialist, or search for a professional WordPress technical provider in our WordPress Services Directory.

We also recommend subscribing to WPCompendium.org to be notified via email whenever we publish new tips on WordPress security and reviews of new WordPress security plugins and solutions.

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