WordPress is frequently the target of attacks by hackers.

In 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every WP hosting server in existence.

These attacks were caused by computers infected with malware and programmed to attack other computers (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)

One of the many ways hackers will attempt to break into a WordPress site is by trying to guess the site admin’s login username and password. This is achieved with scripts and software tools that automatically tries to guess hundreds of possible login combinations in minutes.

If you’re using easy-to-guess login details, your site can be an easy target for hacking attempts.

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

Botnets – What Are They?

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/botnet)

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

Botnets are typically used to blast mass spam emails.

Below is a screenshot taken from a site that monitors online security showing the locations of the command centers of ZeuS – a botnet that has been actively infecting computer networks all around the globe since 2009 …

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

These were well organized and highly distributed attacks on WordPress. Over 90,000 IP addresses were identified by a number of hosting companies just in the initial attack, when the web was flooded with millions of attempts to force their way into WordPress user admin areas. The worldwide brute force attacks continued after this, with over 30,000 WordPress sites being hacked each day.

Coverage of the April 2013 mass brute force botnet attack was widely reported in all the major webhosting companiesand leading technology media publications, such as TechNews Daily, Forbes, BBC News, Tech Crunch, PC Magazine, and even on the official website of the US Department of Homeland Security …

(Powering millions of websites and blogs worldwide makes WordPress a target for hacking attacks)

Does This Mean We Should Stop Using WordPress?

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

We explain why WordPress is a secure web platform in this article: How Secure Is WordPress?

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

Mike Little, the co-founder of WordPress with Matt Mullenweg, said this 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)

How To Prevent Your WordPress Site From Being Brute Force Attacked – Ten Security Points

Every site with a security vulnerability can be seen as an opportunity to hackers. A vulnerable website presents malicious users with a valuable platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and to engage in information theft.

If a malicious user can exploit a way to gain control of your blog, that web site can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more valuable web sites.

Additional undesirable impacts of having your website hacked and your site security compromised include being blacklisted by Google, having stealthy spam links promoting things like online meds, cheap offers on brand names, etc. inserted in your content, malicious redirects to phishing sites, data exfiltration (stealing customer details or Personal Identifiable Information from your web applications), and many other nasties.

The truth is that brute-force software bots are most likely trying to break into your website as you are reading this at this very moment. Whether they will be successful will depend on how difficult you can make things for hackers to continue persisting until they work out a way to get in, or decide to look for a less protected target.

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

If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …

(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)

You will see that the test will display a number of results and information about your site …

(Hackertarget – WP security scan results. Source: Hackertarget.com)

It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information about your blog, then so can hackers.

(Product image source: BlogDefender site)

The ability to see what version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, 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 potentially exploitable security weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their files.

If your website is powered by WordPress and you are not preventive steps to toughen up your site, it’s practically guaranteed that, at some time in the near future, your site will be hacked, or at least targeted by bots, because these brute force attacks are systematically hitting WordPress sites around the world!

When a site is compromised, webmasters will find themselves “locked out” of their own site, or notice that their files have been vandalized or even entirely wiped out. Often, compromised sites will be infected with malicious software or viruses without the owner’s knowledge or awareness.

To avoid the heartache and frustration that comes with having your web site being hacked into, below are 10 essential and effective security measures that will help to protect your WordPress site from being brute force attacked.

Note: Some of the steps below need some technical understanding of how to modify core WordPress and/or server files. If you lack these 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 – Get In Touch With Your Web Host

Get in touch with your webhosting provider and ask them exactly what precautions have been put in place to protect your site from brute force attacks, and what is done to make sure that your server files and data get backed up.

Check that your web host is regularly backing up your server files and that, if disaster strikes, you can easily get back your files and data.

Security Measure #2 – Perform Complete WordPress Backups And Keep Your Website Or Blog Frequently Updated

Never rely just on your webhosting provider for site backups. Instead, learn how to maintain and manage your WordPress site or get this service done for you and maintain a habit of religiously performing a complete site maintenance routine on a frequent basis (e.g. daily, weekly, fortnightly, etc …)

A proper WordPress maintenance routine ensures that:

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

A full WordPress site maintenance routine looks like this …

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

Again, we cannot stress enough how vitally important maintaining your WP installation fully backed up and updated is. WordPress maintenance is not hard to do or time-consuming, but it must be done to ensure the security of your website. If you don’t want to learn how to do WP maintenance yourself, pay someone to do it but make sure this gets done. Backing up your website is the second most important thing you should do after making sure that you are still breathing!

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Back Up, Copy And Protect Your WP Websites With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

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

the worldwide brute-force botnet attack on WordPress sites was mostly an attempt to compromise website administrator panels and gain access to sites by exploiting WordPress installations using “admin” as the user name.

For security purposes, don’t set up WordPress sites with the username “admin”. This is the first area hackers will test. If your site’s user name is “admin”, then make sure you change it immediately.

We have created a step-by-step tutorial for non-technical WordPress users that shows you how to change your username here: How To Change Your WP Username From Admin To Another User Name

Security Measure #4 – Use Strong Passwords

A “brute force” attack occurs when malicious software continually and persistently tries to guess the right combination of characters in a username and password that will unlock your website.

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

Weak passwords, therefore, make very easy targets for attacks. Make sure that you change your password to something that contains at least eight characters long, and that includes upper and lowercase letters, and add a few “special” characters (e.g. %, #, *, etc).

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

(Roboform is a password program that lets you easily generate secure login passwords)

For a simple step-by-step tutorial that shows you how to change your password, go here: How To Reset A Password In WordPress

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

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

(wp-config.php file)

If hackers break into your WordPress site, they will typically search for the wp-config.php file, because this is the file that 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 accessible. 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 WP Installation Files

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

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

Security Measure #7 – Keep Your WordPress Installation, Themes And Plugins Up-To-Date

Hackers look for vulnerabilities in outdated versions of WordPress that can be exploited, including outdated versions of plugins and themes.

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

Security Measure #8 – Disable Your Theme Editor

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

In WordPress, you can access the WordPress Theme Editor by selecting Appearance > Editor in the dashboard menu …

(The WordPress theme editor can be accessed using the WP main menu)

The WordPress theme editor allows anyone accessing your site’s admin to view and modify your WP theme files, and cause havoc 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 – Protect Your WordPress Uploads Folder

The “uploads” folder contains all the media that gets uploaded to your site.

Normally, this folder is visible to anyone 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 folder where your media files are stored)

If any files stored in his folder have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers, someone can upload unauthorized file types to 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, adding a blank index.php file (this is literally a file with nothing in it called “index.php”) to your uploads directory, and so on. Again, it’s best to consult a professional if you are unsure about what to do.

Security Measure #10 – Security Plugins

Some great security plugins for WordPress are available that will address common security issues WordPress website owners face, such as preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to vital areas of your site, protecting your site from brute-force attacks, preventing unauthorized file uploads, etc.

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

(SecureScanPro – WordPress complete security plugin)

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

Another security plugin you may want to consider using is BlogDefender.

Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress Web Sites

(Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress Websites & Blogs)

This product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.

BlogDefender scans you WordPress installation for security weaknesses …

And then shows you how to fix these quickly …

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

WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.

Regardless of the type 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 securing your sites.

As one last reminder of the importance of website security, below is the advice given by a web security expert to all WordPress users after the worldwide brute-force attacks 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 above article has shown you what to do to prevent brute force attacks on your WordPress site. If you need any further help or assistance with WordPress security, please consult a WordPress security specialist, or search for a professional WordPress service provider in our WordPress Services Directory.

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

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