WordPress is among the most widely used website builders because it has a secure codebase and robust functionality. But that doesn’t prevent malicious DDoS attacks, common on the internet, from happening to WordPress or any other software.

DDoS attacks may slow websites down to the point that people are no longer able to access them. Both small and big websites can be the target of these attacks.

You may be asking how, with limited resources, a small company WordPress website can resist such DDoS assaults.

This guide will show you how to stop and prevent a DDoS attack on WordPress. We aim to teach you how to handle a DDoS attack on your website security like a real pro.

What does a DDoS Attack mean?

Distributed Denial of Service attack, or DDoS attack for short, is a type of cyber attack in which computers and other devices that have been hacked are used to send or request data from a WordPress hosting server. These queries are sent to slow down the targeted server and ultimately crash it.

DoS (Denial of Service) attacks have become DDoS (Denial of Service) attacks. Unlike a DoS attack, they use multiple servers or machines that have been hacked in different parts of the world.

A network of computers that have been hacked is sometimes called a botnet. Each infected machine acts as a bot and attacks the system or server that is the target.

They may do their most harm before being prevented since they can go undiscovered for a long.

DDoS attacks can happen to even the largest companies on the internet.

In 2018, a large DDoS attack sent 1.3 terabytes per second of traffic to the popular code hosting platform GitHub servers.

You might also remember the well-known attack on DYN in 2016. (a DNS service provider). This attack made headlines worldwide because it affected many well-known websites, including Amazon, Netflix, PayPal, Visa, Airbnb, The New York Times, Reddit, and thousands more.

What Causes DDoS Attacks?

Several things can cause DDoS attacks. Here are some that are often used:

• People who know a lot about technology but are bored and find it exciting
• People and groups who want to get a political message across
• Groups that try to attack the websites and services of a certain country or region
• Attacks on a business or service provider that are meant to hurt their finances
• To threaten someone and get ransom money

What distinguishes a DDoS attack from a brute force attack?

To obtain unauthorized access to a system, brute force attacks often include attempting random combinations of characters or passwords to get into a system.

DDoS attacks are only used to crash or slow down the system being attacked, making it inaccessible or hard to use.

For more information, see our step-by-step guide on how to stop brute-force attacks on WordPress.

What kind of harm may a DDoS attack inflict?

DDoS attacks can slow down or even shut down a website. This could lead to a bad user experience and a loss of business. It could also cost thousands of dollars to stop the attack.

Here’s how these costs break down:

• Loss of business because the site is inaccessible Cost of customer service to answer questions about the service outage
• Cost of keeping an attack from happening by hiring security services or help
• The most expensive thing is a bad user experience and a bad reputation for the brand.

How to Stop a DDoS Attack on WordPress and Prevent Them

DDoS attacks can be tricky to stop because they can be disguised well. However, you may block DDoS assaults from harming your WordPress website by following a few simple security best practices.

You must do these actions to halt and prevent DDoS assaults on your WordPress website.

Take away the DDoS and brute-force attack verticals.

The flexibility of WordPress is one of its best features. Third-party plugins and tools can be added to your WordPress site to give it new features.

To do this, WordPress lets programmers use several APIs. These APIs are ways that plugins and services from outside of WordPress can talk to WordPress.

But some of these APIs can also send many requests during a DDoS attack. You can safely turn them off to lower the number of requests.

Turn off WordPress’s REST API

Plugins and utilities may access WordPress data, edit material, and even remove it, thanks to the JSON REST API for WordPress. Here are the steps to turn off REST API in WordPress.

Install and turn on the Disable WP Rest API plugin. This is the first thing you need to do. See our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin for more information.

The plugin works right out of the box. All it does is turn off the REST API for users who aren’t logged in.

Switch on WAF (Website Firewall)

Disabling attack vectors like REST API and XML-RPC doesn’t stop DDoS attacks very well. A normal HTTP request can still compromise your website.

You can stop a small DOS attack by trying to find the bad machines’ IP addresses and blocking them by hand. However, this is not a good way to stop a large DDoS attack.

By turning on a website application firewall, it’s easy to block requests that look suspicious.

A website application firewall is an intermediary between your website and all incoming traffic. It employs a clever algorithm to detect suspicious requests and block them before they reach the server hosting your website.

Sucuri is the greatest WordPress firewall and plugin. It works at the DNS level, so they can stop a DDoS attack before it gets to your website.

Sucuri begins at $20 per month for pricing (paid yearly).

You can also use Cloudflare instead. But Cloudflare’s free service only protects against a small number of DDoS attacks. To have layer 7 DDoS protection, you must enroll in their commercial plan, which costs around $200 per month.