Hey there! Is your WordPress site prepared to withstand a crushing distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack?
DDoS attacks are on the rise, growing larger and more sophisticated every year. Attacks over 15 Gbps jumped by a staggering 776% from 2019 to 2022. Even tech giants like Cloudflare are straining to mitigate massive DDoS attacks in the 2-3 Tbps range.
No WordPress site is too small to be a target. Attackers use automated bots to scan for any vulnerable WordPress installations they can pummel with junk traffic to knock them offline.
The costs of unplanned downtime from a successful DDoS attack are painful:
| Cost Factor | Damage |
|---|---|
| Lost sales | 57% of companies say an hour of downtime costs $100-500K |
| Reputation damage | 52% of customers say they‘re less likely to buy from a company with downtime |
| Recovery expenses | Average cost to recover from a DDoS attack is $218,000 |
Sources: Ponemon Institute, Veeam, Kaspersky
But don‘t panic! In this in-depth guide, I‘ll walk you through exactly how to fortify your WordPress site to repel DDoS attacks. You‘ll learn:
- Why WordPress sites are juicy targets for DDoS attacks
- How to tell if your site is currently under DDoS attack (and what to do)
- My proven techniques to prevent DDoS attacks from taking down your site
- The best tools to protect your WordPress site without breaking the bank
Sound good? Let‘s dive in and DDoS-proof your WordPress site together!
What Makes WordPress Sites Vulnerable to DDoS Attacks?
WordPress sites make attractive DDoS targets for a few key reasons:
WordPress powers over 40% of websites, so attackers get more disruption for their efforts by focusing on the CMS.
The WordPress core, plugins, and themes are common across millions of sites. An attacker who finds a new vulnerability in a popular plugin or theme can quickly mass-scan for sites to exploit.
Many WordPress admins are slow to update to patched versions, leaving known holes open longer. In 2022, over 1.2 billion WordPress attacks targeted vulnerabilities that had been publicly disclosed for at least a month.
An alarming 30-40% of WordPress sites still run on outdated PHP versions with reported security flaws.
Default WordPress configurations often leave doors open for DDoS traffic through the XML-RPC API, REST API, and unprotected login pages.
So while WordPress core is quite secure, the huge WP install base, slow patching, and misconfigured sites give DDoS attackers a target-rich environment.
How Do DDoS Attacks Exploit WordPress Sites?
The goal of a DDoS attack is to overwhelm your WordPress hosting server‘s resources by flooding it with more traffic than it can process. This causes your site to slow down and eventually become unreachable.
DDoS attacks against WordPress sites often exploit these vectors:
Sending a high volume of login attempts to your wp-admin page to exhaust server memory. Attackers use proxies or botnets to distribute the requests across many IPs.
Calling the XML-RPC API repeatedly to expand one request into many (called an amplification attack). Attackers can hit multiple sites‘ xmlrpc.php files at once to magnify the effect.
Sending frequent POST requests to your /wp-comments-post.php file as if posting a high number of comments. This consumes significant server CPU cycles.
Making a flurry of complex search queries to your WordPress site‘s search function or accessing many unique page URLs to make the database work overtime.
Requesting large media files like videos hosted on your WordPress site to max out the server‘s bandwidth and make your pages load slowly.
By cleverly combining these techniques, DDoS attackers can bring down even high-powered WordPress hosting servers. That‘s why you need multiple layers of protection in place.
How to Know When You‘re Under DDoS Attack
DDoS attacks can be hard to distinguish from legitimate traffic surges at first. Here are telltale signs your WordPress site is under active attack:
- Your site slows to a crawl or throws a 504/508 error page when trying to load.
- You see a sudden spike in traffic from unusual locations or IPs in your Google Analytics.
- Your WordPress host‘s security system email alerts you to an abnormal surge in requests to your site.
- Your server‘s CPU and memory usage graphs show a huge sustained spike.
- Uptime monitoring services ping you that your site is down from multiple locations.
If you suspect a possible DDoS attack, don‘t wait – jump into action immediately!
Emergency Response Checklist for a DDoS Attack
Fast response is critical to mitigate damage when you‘re under a DDoS attack. Every minute of downtime costs you customers and cash. Here‘s your action plan:
Call your WordPress hosting provider ASAP and ask them to block the attacking IPs at the network level. Have them change your WordPress site‘s IP address to shake off the attack.
Log into your WordPress firewall service (Cloudflare, Sucuri, etc.) and activate "under attack mode" to block traffic while letting legit users through.
If your site is still unreachable, update your DNS records to point your domain to a "maintenance mode" page temporarily. This reduces load on your crashed server.
Pause any non-essential WordPress plugins, services, cron jobs, etc. to conserve your server resources for core functions.
Turn on 2FA for all admin accounts to prevent the attacker from escalating to an account takeover. Force password resets as an extra precaution.
Post an update on your social media channels and email list about the situation and your efforts to resolve it. Be transparent but reassuring.
Review all your WordPress security settings (see the next section for a checklist) to plug any holes the attacker may have exploited.
Once your hosting company confirms the DDoS attack has subsided, carefully bring your full WordPress site back online. Test thoroughly for any new issues.
Write a post-incident report with your team noting the attack timeline, impact, and areas for improving your response plan.
Having a clear incident response plan and responsibilities for your team will help you act decisively to stop the DDoS attack and restore service faster.
WordPress Security Best Practices to Prevent DDoS Attacks
Blocking a DDoS attack is good; preventing one altogether is even better! Lock down your WordPress site with this security checklist:
- [ ] Choose a managed WordPress host with robust DDoS protection (e.g. Kinsta or WP Engine)
- [ ] Use a website firewall like Cloudflare or Sucuri for proactive DDoS filtering
- [ ] Disable XML-RPC and REST API if not needed using free plugins
- [ ] Rename your WordPress login page from the default wp-admin and limit failed attempts
- [ ] Keep your WordPress core, plugins and themes updated to latest versions
- [ ] Use strong admin usernames and passwords (no "admin"/"password123")
- [ ] Require 2-factor authentication for all admin users
- [ ] Delete unused plugins and themes to reduce your attack surface
- [ ] Upgrade to latest supported PHP version and use PHP 8 if possible
- [ ] Schedule regular backups of your full WordPress site on a remote location
By putting these essential WordPress hardening steps in place ASAP, you‘ll make your site a much harder target for DDoS attackers.
Best WordPress Hosting for DDoS Protection
Your choice of WordPress hosting plays a huge role in your site‘s ability to withstand DDoS attacks. Cheap shared hosting crumples quickly under a traffic spike.
When evaluating WordPress hosts, I always recommend looking for these key features:
- Automatic, always-on DDoS mitigation (L3-L7)
- Globally distributed network with redundant DDoS filtering capacity
- Private DNS to mask your true origin IP
- Fast server-level caching to absorb traffic bursts
- One-click "safe mode"
Based on my experience, these managed WordPress hosts offer the most robust built-in DDoS protections:
Kinsta – Uses Google Cloud Platform‘s DDoS defense system and multi-regional infrastructure. Features free Cloudflare integration.
WPEngine – Provides enterprise-grade DDoS mitigation and prevention techniques. Runs daily security scans and immediate blocking.
Flywheel – Partners with Sucuri for always-on DDoS monitoring. Containers isolate attacks and keep other sites running.
While these hosting plans cost more than budget shared WordPress hosting, their extra DDoS defenses are well worth it for mission-critical sites. You‘ll sleep better knowing you‘ve got proactive DDoS protection.
Best Website Firewall Services for DDoS Security
In addition to secure hosting, I highly recommend putting a website firewall (WAF) in place for real-time DDoS traffic filtering. A cloud WAF acts as your first line of defense, identifying bad bots and blocking malicious requests before they hit your origin server.
My top picks for WordPress-compatible firewalls are:
Cloudflare – Offers advanced DDoS protection and a 35 Tbps global network for absorbing attacks. Their $200/month Business plan includes strong L7 filtering and "I‘m Under Attack" mode. Integrates with many hosts.
Sucuri – Web Application Firewall identifies and blocks L3-L7 DDoS attacks, brute force attempts, etc. WordPress plans start at $10/month. Add their $200/year CDN for even wider mitigation. Easy WP plugin setup.
For most WordPress sites, a basic Sucuri or Cloudflare plan will deflect the majority of small-to-medium DDoS attacks. Their entry-level plans are an excellent value for the peace of mind.
Just be aware that a WAF alone won‘t stop the most massive, complex DDoS attacks (think 1 Tbps and up) – you need a defense-in-depth strategy with multiple countermeasures.
Wrapping Up
With the skyrocketing size and frequency of DDoS attacks, it‘s not a matter of if, but when your WordPress site will come under attack. Please don‘t wait until you‘re battling downtime to get serious about DDoS defense!
To keep your WordPress site safe from DDoS chaos, remember:
- Invest in DDoS-resistant managed WordPress hosting to harden your site
- Put a reputable website firewall in place to filter out malicious traffic
- Close common WordPress security holes like XML-RPC and outdated extensions
- Prepare a response plan for your team to quickly stop attacks in progress
By taking a proactive, layered approach to DDoS defense, you‘ll keep your WordPress site online and open for business. Now go implement those security best practices – you‘ve got this!
Have any questions or tips to share? Leave me a comment below. Stay vigilant out there, friends!
