WordPress Blogs Affected By Massive Hacker Attack

WordPress

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The last time I logged into my WordPress account was nearly nine months ago and with the recent report on the massive attack on WordPress blogs ahs left me thinking twice about logging into it again. However, since the user name that I used is somewhat strange for anyone to consider allowed me to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

The reason for this is the recent report that showed that the attack mainly focused on trying simply usernames coupled with passwords that were typically used by some bloggers that makes it easy for them to remember. However, both my username and password are basically out-of-this-world makes me sleep well at night knowing that it make take some time before these hackers will be able to compromise my WordPress account.

Then again it does pay to make sure to change my password as soon as possible.

The massive attack on WordPress blogs was discovered recently by security companies, which indicated that the hackers were using brute force to gain access into the accounts. This will likely affect accounts where the usernames and the passwords are among the most-oft used ones by users that will allow them to easily remember them.

According to Incapsula, a security firm, the infected sites have been seeded with a backdoor that will allow the attackers to control the site remotely. HostGator, a hosting site, also gave out warnings about the attack. The site indicated that a global, highly-distributed attack on WordPress-backed sites was currently ongoing and it is attacking virtually all web hosts across the world.

The attack was reportedly well-organized and involved more than 90,000 IP addresses around the world. It also recommended that anyone using the WordPress installation to change their password as soon as possible into one that complies with the requirements of the WordPress site.

Although the attack appeared to have stemmed a week ago, it started to pick up again recently. Among the symptoms of the attack was a slow performance on the back-end or the inability to log into the account itself. HostGator was trying to reduce the effects of the attack on its server farm but was limited to a certain degree,

There were no reports that the attack affected the bog or the Twitter account of WordPress was affected.