Brute force attacks are common these days. Many WordPress website suffer from such attacks.
Most of these attacks aim to exploit the vulnerabilities on your website. So they scan it thoroughly and check for authors and their respective IDs. Once they get hold of the author list, they can figure out passwords one way or another.
You need to take appropriate measures to stop hackers from scanning your website. In this article, learn how to prevent hackers and discourage brute force attacks. By the end of the article, you’d have made your WordPress website a lot safer.
Step-by-step Guide
Two of the most important files in your WordPress system are the wp-config.php and the .htaccess file. For this tutorial, we’d be working on the .htaccess file.
Before you get started, it’s recommended that you take a full backup of your site. This is important from a safety standpoint. Should anything happen to your website while editing .htaccess, you can restore your website back safely.
Then, here are the steps to follow:
Most of these attacks aim to exploit the vulnerabilities on your website. So they scan it thoroughly and check for authors and their respective IDs. Once they get hold of the author list, they can figure out passwords one way or another.
You need to take appropriate measures to stop hackers from scanning your website. In this article, learn how to prevent hackers and discourage brute force attacks. By the end of the article, you’d have made your WordPress website a lot safer.
Step-by-step Guide
Two of the most important files in your WordPress system are the wp-config.php and the .htaccess file. For this tutorial, we’d be working on the .htaccess file.
Before you get started, it’s recommended that you take a full backup of your site. This is important from a safety standpoint. Should anything happen to your website while editing .htaccess, you can restore your website back safely.
Then, here are the steps to follow:
- Log in to your cPanel with the correct credentials
- Go to the Files section
- Click on the “File Manager” icon
- On the left-hand side panel, click on the “public_html” directory
- Click on the domain folder you want to protect
- Scroll down till you find the .htaccess file. In case you don’t see it, update the cPanel settings and you should see it there. For this, click on the “Settings” button on the top-right corner. On the popup window, check the box that reads “Show Hidden Files”
- Right-click on the .htaccess file and select “Edit”
- Click “Edit” when a popup window opens asking encoding permission
- A tab opens containing the code of the .htaccess file. Copy and paste the following codes in the code base:
Code:
# Block Author Scans
RewriteEngineOn
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond%{QUERY_STRING} (author=d+) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]- Ensure you add the code before #End WordPress
