How to secure WordPress from brute force attacks – There is no such thing as an inviolable system on the Internet. From small businesses to government installers, online weaknesses are often exploited by hackers. The more common threat among them is a brute force attack.
In fact, your website is experiencing thousands of lists every day that you don't realize.
Due to the frequency with which these efforts occur, it is always a good idea to secure WordPress from an attack.
Remember, 1 ounce of prevention is worth 1 pound of cure. That means a few moments today will save you from migraines later.
Today, I will show you how to add brute force to protect WordPress, greatly reducing your risk to an online threat.
What is a Brute Force attack?
A strong attack from Vikings is when hackers or bots will try to use a lot of usernames and passwords until they find the right name. Most will start with the most common default login username: “admin.”
Depending on the level of difficulty from the login information, it may take a few seconds to several days for the Brute Force attack to finally gain access.
However, many current systems will monitor this effort as quickly as possible and blacklist the IP address to the attacker. This means he or she will have to use another Internet access point to try again.
When a hacker has credentials on an admin account at WordPress, he or she causes all sorts of havoc.
So, how do you add security to WordPress to limit Brute Force attacks?
WordPress Protect: Brute Force login protection is enhanced
The stronger option is WordPress Protect. It is a development system with system administrators and external providers to protect all WordPress websites.
In 2017, the platform was not only protected against 180,000 Brute Force attitudes every day but also reduced page load time by 13%.
If you use us to host your WordPress website, you won't have to do anything. That automatic addition does not require any action.
The system works by tracking the number of logins generated at a specific time frame. If the attempt fails too often, the connection will be adjusted.
Basically, it's the shield from the Brute Force that's always there to keep customers protected at all times.
Use the WordPress Brute Force plugin
Plugin is the life blood of WordPress. Using the best WordPress tool will greatly reduce the threat to your website.
My favorite security plugin is Wordfence. This is a free tool that will monitor your website for various types of security threats including brute force attacks.
However, Wordfence is not the only great plugin available with WordPress. There are several extremely popular, highly rated tools that you can install right now to start protecting your site immediately.
Almost all of them provide free Brute Force protection.
Use Two-Factory Authentication
A very effective method to prevent unauthorized access to WordPress is to use two-factor authentication. This is when hackers will need your login credentials as well as external methods to access the website.
In many cases, people use SMS text messages as the login process. This is because it is very difficult for hackers to access your website after a brute force attack while holding your smartphone with you.
In fact, many large companies will use two-factor authentication in one form or another. For example, the Steam gaming platform will use a smartphone app to verify you're logged into the website.
See more: Build a Website with WordPress
Hide or move WordPress login screen
Hiding or moving the WordPress login screen helps to eliminate most brute force attacks automatically. That's because you changed the default URL used when installing WordPress.
When hackers don't know the address, they can't knock on your door.
You can customize the URL when installing WordPress manually. But when you have an active website? That's when you use a plugin like WPS Hide Login.
Some of these plugins will give you the opportunity to customize the URL on your login page to be something completely random or something more unique to your needs.
Use custom administrator credentials
By default, WordPress creates user network admin accounts upon installation. Now that you change this administrator account to whatever other name you want, I strongly recommend doing so.
Why so?
Because “admin” is the most common username. It is the default account, usually the first thing a hacker does in a brute force attack. In other words, you are bringing them half of the login information immediately.
Personally, I delete the account with the online administrator and create something unique with every website I manage. Sometimes, I even add numbers in letters to the username just to make it harder.
Password protect admin directory
Another common method for securing WordPress is to password protect the admin directory. If you use something like cPanel, you can use the directory inside “Directory Privacy” to prevent access to the login screen and other administrative resources.
This means that hackers will have to know the login information to the directory before seeing the WordPress login screen.
Think of it as adding latches to the front door on your side. Although it takes a few more minutes to turn on both keys, it still protects better than the lock on your door handle.
In addition, most automated brute force bots bypass this process because they specifically look for the login page URL on your website.
Always up to date with WordPress
The rule of thumb for protecting WordPress is to keep the core, plugins and interface up to date. Although this does not prevent the attack like the method I mentioned above, it is a good way to maintain it.
This is because hackers are looking for any website side exploits. Outdated or incorrectly programmed files will open the door for hackers to insert their own login credentials into the database.
So instead of an attack, they just need to log in as an administrator.
Luckily, you set up WordPress to update files automatically in different ways so you don't need to remember to do so. This gives the plugin developer and the interface an opportunity to fix every exploit, helping to protect your own website.
This includes setting up core files inside WordPress for automatic updates.
Always back up
Another good practice to get is to always make sure you have an existing backup on the website. This is the app where there are measurements, hopefully you will never have to restore from backup.
However, quickly recovering from a brute force attack will save you time and lost data.
You have countless options with the backup plugin at WordPress. Some will even save files directly to cloud storage platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive.
Any of these systems will provide you with a backup method to restore your website in case a hacker succeeds with a brute force attack. Just remember to plug any holes in the website to prevent hackers from succeeding again.
Never underestimate the need for WordPress security
Any of the above methods are extremely helpful. However, you should not limit yourself to one or two of them. The more effort you make, the more protected the website.
WordPress is a solid system for creating websites. However, never think that it has enough protection to keep the file with you or the final visitor. Taking a few minutes now to lock websites is worth the effort when compared to what you are likely to lose.
Which WordPress security plugin do you love? Do you often trade old, unsupported plugins for newer versions?