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Protecting your website from DDoS attacks and viruses

DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) is a massive request to a site in order to “put” it down.

How to recognize a DDoS attack?

  • Sudden increase in traffic to unrealistic levels: For example, daily traffic may increase dramatically compared to previous periods.
  • Significant slowdown of the site or complete unavailability: The site becomes extremely slow or does not work at all.
  • Suspicious requests with the same patterns or from many different IPs: A large number of requests may come from similar or different IP addresses, which is a sign of an attack.

Basic methods:

  1. Using CDN and WAF

    • Cloudflare, Sucuri, Imperva — have built-in DDoS protection and a web firewall (WAF) that filters out malicious traffic.

    • Cloudflare provides basic protection for free.

  2. Rate Limiting

    • Limit the number of requests from a single IP address at a given time. This can be done through Cloudflare, Wordfence, iThemes Security or server settings (fail2ban, mod_evasive).

  3. Optimized server

    • VPS/Cloud with auto-scaling can handle the load better than cheap shared hosting.

    • Use caching (LiteSpeed ​​​​Cache, Redis, WP Rocket) — it reduces the number of database requests.

  4. GeoBlocking / Captcha

    • If attacks are coming from certain countries, block traffic through Cloudflare.

    • For forms, add reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha.

🦠 2. Protection against viruses and malicious code

WordPress is often targeted by hackers because plugins, themes, and outdated code.

Key actions:

  1. Regular updates

    • Always keep WordPress, themes, and plugins up to date.

    • Remove unused plugins and themes.

  2. Antivirus plugins

    • Wordfence (firewall + malware scanner).

    • MalCare (cloud scanner, does not load the site).

    • Sucuri Security (monitoring + file protection).

  3. Downloads and injections

    • Use plugins that scan for malicious injections in files and databases.

    • For WooCommerce, additionally check payment forms (to avoid card skimming).

  4. Access restrictions

    • Use 2FA (two-factor authentication) for admins.

    • Restrict access to /wp-admin by IP (possibly via .htaccess or Cloudflare Access).

    • Change the admin login URL (/wp-login.php → your custom one).

  5. Backups

    • Set up daily backups (UpdraftPlus, BlogVault, JetBackup on hosting).

    • Keep copies on another server or in the cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox).

  6. SSL certificate (HTTPS)

    • Without SSL, your site is vulnerable to data interception.

    • Let’s Encrypt is available for free.

📊 3. Additional tips

  • Monitoring logs (e.g., WP Activity Log) → see suspicious actions.

  • Minimum access to the site — each user only needs a role.

  • Use proven plugins/themes — downloading from “left” sites = 90% virus infection.

  • Regularly check the site in the services:

✅ If in short:

  • Cloudflare + WAF = DDoS protection.

  • Wordfence/MalCare + regular backups = virus protection.

  • Update + access restriction = hack prevention.