Brute Force Attacks May Be Affecting You

What Is a Brute Force Attack?

Brute force attacks use a repetitive method of trial and error to guess a person’s user name and password. Due to the number of possible combinations of letters, numbers and symbols, a brute force attack can take several hours, days, months, and even years to run. The amount of time it takes to complete these attacks is dependent on the complexity of the password, the strength of the encryption, how well the attacker knows the target, and the strength of the computer(s) being used to conduct the attack. These attacks are usually done automatically, using software that runs through a series of dictionary words, numbers, etc. And it is not personal, they are simply looking for the most vulnerable sites.

Are You Affected By a Brute Force Attack?

Over the past week, analysts from a variety of security and networking firms have tracked an alarming number of “brute force” password-guessing attacks against Web sites powered by WordPress, perhaps the most popular content management system in use today. So, if your site was created using WordPress, as most of the sites I have created are, it is very important that you contact me to add security to your site. I’m not suggesting this so I can drum up business. I care about your online business web presence.

What Can You Do To Protect Your Website?

1. To help prevent dictionary brute-force attacks, I can add a plugin that limits the number of attempts that can be made before locking the access by that ip address. I can also make sure that there are no user names of “admin” which they appear to be targeting. I can also change the password.
2. While you may not have been accessing your site to make changes, there is still a username and password assigned to your site.
3. I can also make sure that all plugins, and WordPress itself, are updated. Updates generally take care of any vulnerabilities.

You may not have noticed any strange things happening on your site, but it could just be a matter of time until you are affected, given the recent rise in attacks.

You may not have even known that WordPress was used to develop your site. I have been using WordPress the past few years because it is powerful and is the most popular content management system used today. If you have had the capability to make changes to your site yourself, the site was definitely created using WordPress. It is still the best option out there. I just want to make sure you are protected.

Please contact me at 541-673-2671 or send me an email at info@umpquawebdesign.com to discuss it further. Your business is important to me.