Running a website in today’s digital world comes with a host of challenges. One of the most significant threats is the constant barrage of login attempts by bad actors trying to compromise your site. While this might sound like something only major corporations or high-profile websites face, the reality is much different. Even a small WordPress site can be the target of thousands of login attempts daily. Just today, my own WordPress installation registered 1,522 login attempts from the same IP in Indonesia within a mere 13 minutes. A similar attack was registered from Bulgaria including 256 attempts in less than 3 minutes. Do you log login activity?
This incident serves as a wake-up call: if you own a website, no matter how small, it’s crucial to protect it. Let’s talk about why this happens, what the risks are, and how you can fortify your site against these threats.
Why Are Hackers Targeting Your Website?
- Automated Attacks
Hackers often use bots to scan the internet for vulnerable websites, regardless of their size or popularity. These bots can automatically attempt brute-force attacks—trying hundreds or thousands of username-password combinations in a short time. - Low-Hanging Fruit
Many attackers are opportunists, looking for websites with weak passwords, outdated software, or unprotected login forms. A WordPress site with weak security measures becomes a prime target. - Monetary Gain
Successful breaches can lead to theft of sensitive data, redirecting your traffic, injecting malware, or even using your server to distribute spam or launch further attacks. - Compromise at Scale
Hackers don’t need to care about your content. They care about gaining control of as many sites as possible to use them as part of a broader scheme. Your site could be used as part of a botnet to launch attacks against other websites.
What Are the Risks?
- Data Breaches
A successful brute-force attack could expose your users’ data, leading to loss of trust and potential legal consequences. - Downtime and Damage to Reputation
Once compromised, your website may be taken down, defaced, or filled with malicious content, leading to a negative experience for visitors. - SEO Penalties
Search engines like Google penalize sites hosting malware or spam content, tanking your site’s rankings and visibility. - Financial Loss
Recovering from a hack can be costly—not just in terms of fixing the vulnerabilities, but also in terms of lost business, especially if your site is down for a prolonged period.
How Can You Protect Your Website?
1. Limit Login Attempts
As seen in today’s brute-force attempt on my site, limiting login attempts is essential. After three failed login attempts, my WordPress installation automatically blocks further attempts from the same IP. This feature alone can thwart the majority of brute-force attacks. You can use plugins to implement this.
2. Use Strong Passwords and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Weak passwords are a hacker’s best friend. Ensure all users, especially admins, use strong, unique passwords. Adding two-factor authentication (2FA) creates an extra layer of protection. With 2FA, even if a hacker cracks the password, they can’t access your site without the secondary authentication code.
3. Install a Security Plugin
There are excellent security plugins like Wordfence and iThemes Security that monitor login attempts, scan for malware, and block known bad actors. These plugins provide detailed logs, so you can stay on top of security events like today’s attack.
4. Keep Your Software Up-to-Date
Whether you’re using WordPress, Joomla, or custom-built software, ensure all components—core software, plugins, and themes—are always up-to-date. Hackers frequently exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software. A single missed update can open the door to an attack.
5. Use HTTPS (SSL/TLS Encryption)
Secure your site with an SSL certificate to encrypt the data transferred between your site and your visitors. This protects against “man-in-the-middle” attacks and boosts your site’s credibility (and SEO ranking).
6. Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF)
A Web Application Firewall sits between your server and incoming traffic, filtering out malicious requests before they reach your site. Cloudflare offers a basic WAF for free, but there are also premium options from services like Sucuri and Imperva.
7. Backup Regularly
Backups are your safety net in case of an attack. Set up automated daily backups to ensure that, even if the worst happens, you can restore your site quickly. Plugins can help manage this.
8. Block Suspicious IPs and Countries
If your site doesn’t serve visitors from certain regions, consider blocking traffic from those countries entirely. In today’s case, for instance, you might want to block the IPs from Indonesia that attempted the brute-force attack. This can be done via your firewall or security plugins.
9. Harden WordPress (or your CMS)
WordPress security hardening means taking extra steps like disabling file editing within the WordPress dashboard, changing the default login URL, and restricting access to sensitive files like wp-config.php. These measures make it harder for hackers to find weaknesses to exploit.
10. Monitor Activity
Set up logging to monitor user activity, login attempts, and file changes. This will help you spot suspicious activity early and take action before things escalate.
Conclusion: Security is Not Optional
Every website is a potential target, whether it’s a small blog or a major e-commerce platform. Hackers are becoming more sophisticated, and the tools they use to compromise sites are more readily available than ever. While no system can be 100% secure, taking these steps can drastically reduce your chances of being hacked.
The incident today underscores just how crucial these measures are. Even though my site was targeted by over a thousand login attempts in a matter of minutes, the protections I had in place—limiting login attempts and blocking IP addresses—ensured that it remained secure.
Security is not just an IT concern—it’s an essential part of running a website. By implementing the right protection measures, you can make the online world a safer place, one website at a time.