Defend Your WordPress Website against Brute-Force Attacks
Whether you are an experienced web developer or a totally beginner in to WordPress world, you might be surprised that how usually your WordPress website is vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Also, you might be looking for the answer that exactly why your website is always under attack.
The most of the scenarios the automated bots are the bad actor. And mostly your website is being more targeted because your website is created on the WordPress platform.
Your WordPress website is more crosshairs of malicious attacks because WordPress is the most well know and preferable content management system from all over the world.
However, there are different types of attacks. The most popular attack among others is the brute-force attack. So in this article, we will learn that how you can safeguard your website against brute force attacks.
Let us learn more about brute force attacks and some methods to protect your WordPress website.
What do you mean by ‘Brute-Force’ attack?
Brute force attack means adding passwords in the hope that they might add the correct password.
In the world of the internet, the malicious script executes repeatedly, adding your passwords and the username to the WordPress login page. Per day you will find hundreds and thousands of attempts.
You will not be able to login into your website successfully as you will face some of the issues while repeatedly attempting the passwords.
Some top reasons are mentioned below that why your website gets vulnerable.
- You might have set very week login credentials for example ultra-common password or username.
- Your website’s credentials might have been leaked from elsewhere.
There are high chances of a successful attack on your website if any one of these happens earlier.
Once the attacked log in to your WordPress dashboard they will be able to anything on your website.
On server resources, these attacks can be drain or annoyance even if it is unsuccessful. Therefore you should always add policies that will help you to safeguard your website from damage.
Steps to defend oneself
To safeguard your WordPress website against brute force attacks you will find various methods. The most common is security measures like make use of strong passwords rather than adding a username as “admin’ you can add a username which will be difficult to guess. At least this process will ensure your website will be difficult to get cracking.
Some most important actions that you can take are given below
- To login, the page restrict the access
As per the setup of your web server, access to the WordPress login page can be blocked but specific IP addresses or the group. This can be done with the help of the .htaccess file on the apache server.
The caveat is one of the methods that have static IP addresses based on administrators. In the corporate environment, this could be one of the best cases.
But some people will do not prefer this method as it might be difficult for them to follow. Some advice is provided in the official WordPress documentation you must give a look at least once.
Another best approach to follow at the server level is to password-protect the login page. But this approach also might not be convenient for some websites because it only makes sure that authorized users are able to login to the WordPress dashboard.
- Integrate plugin
You will find so many WordPress plugins which are mainly created for security purpose. Most of them offer an outstanding feature that will help you to safeguard your WordPress website from brute force attacks.
Some most well-known options included for your website based on WordPress best templates are
- Jetpack
This plugin will help you by blocking the undesired login attempts
- Wordfence Security
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security
This plugin will add different measures for login specific for example reCAPTCHA, two-factor authentication, or brute force protection.
- Login LockDown
This WordPress plugin is actually created to add limitations to brute force attempts. The offending IP address will be automatically locked out once it failed logins a specific number of times.
- iThemes Security
Solid Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection
This is one of the best plugins which works best with almost every WordPress best templates. It comes with different login-related protections such as two-factor authentication, brute force protection, and allows you to rename the /wp-admin/ folder.
- Another best solution is to add CDN/Firewall
Employing Firewall/CND will not only help you to enhance your website’s performance but also will add side benefit as it will serve a barrier in between your WordPress install and malicious bots.
Conclusion:
The above-mentioned methods do not ensure that it will safeguard your website 100% but these all are very easy to implement and offers a good layer of security to your website which will be tougher on the average bot.
