Tag Archives for " web.config "

How to: Protect WordPress from brute-force XML-RPC attacks

The WordPress XML-RPC API has been under attack for many years now. Back in August 2014, WordPress released version 3.9.2, fixing a possible denial of service issue in PHP’s XML processing. There are brute-force amplification attacks, reported by Sucuri, and so on. So, how do you protect WordPress from xmlrpc.php attacks, but still being able to use (some of) its functionality like Jetpack? This post gives you some insight.

SSL in WordPress: how to move WordPress to HTTPS? The definitive guide

Having an SSL certificate in your WordPress is the de-facto standard nowadays, did you know that? Google ranks sites having HTTPS higher in their SERP. But in WordPress, how do you configure an SSL certificate and HTTPS URL? You’ll learn the important steps to move WordPress from http to https in this post.

Ghost on IIS with HTTPS, how to resolve a “Too many redirects” error

When you use iisnode to host the Node.js blogging software Ghost on your IIS web server, and you set up an SSL certificate for your Ghost website, you may run into too many redirect issues when changing Ghost’s config.js file. This happend to me yesterday, and here is the solution.

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HackRepair.com’s Bad Bots .htaccess in web.config for IIS

Jim Walker from HackRepair.com posted a 2016 version of his Bad Bots .htaccess on Pastebin. I offered Jim to translate his Bad Bots .htaccess to web.config, to be used with Windows Server IIS. And here it is, learn to protect your WordPress website with this web.config file!

WordPress Is the Most Attacked CMS Application

Imperva’s Web Application Attack Report shows spam is WordPress’ largest security threat. Imperva, an international cyber security company founded in 2002, published its 2015 web application attack report. The report includes a thorough analysis of attack data obtained through its Web Application Firewall (or WAF).

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RewriteProxy with .htaccess in IIS

Rewrite and proxy HTTP requests in IIS using a .htaccess

In my case scenario, I had to proxy requests in IIS, because a website was moved from web server A to B, and the DNS wasn’t updated yet. All HTTP requests for the moved website are handled in IIS’ Default Web Site; that’s the wildcard host, and the original host no longer existed there. We needed to match our website and proxy those requests to the new IIS web server. This can either be done using a proxy with URL Rewrite, IIS Application Request Routing (ARR), or a .htaccess file handled by Helicon Ape.

How to block BaiduSpider bot User-Agent?

The Baidu spider (BaiduSpider user agent) can be a real pain to block, especially since it does not respect a robots.txt as it should. This post shows you how to block Baidu Spider bot, using IIS URL Rewrite Module based on its User-Agent string.

My WordPress web.config

Do you host your WordPress website on Windows Server IIS? And are you having trouble with your web.config? I often receive questions about how to use a web.config file in WordPress on Windows Server, and which settings are important for a WordPress site. Maybe it’s because I’m a WordPress on IIS enthusiast, so here is my web.config for your convenience (really, it’s not that special).

How to enable HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) on IIS

Set up HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) in Windows Server IIS. Scott Hanselman wrote a great post on how to enable HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) on IIS web servers, and here is some more technical information about HSTS in IIS (and other security headers)…

Secure WordPress uploads folder, disable PHP execution

The following PHP function secures your WordPress website by disabling the execution of PHP scripts in wp-content/uploads, on IIS web servers. It creates a web.config file for this purpose.

HTTP to HTTPS redirect using IIS web.config

An HTTP to HTTPS redirect on IIS is often better left to the web server, with a simple httpRedirect redirection, than to a resource expensive URL Rewrite. This is easily done in a web.config IIS website configuration file. Where possible, use the IIS httpRedirect element for a HTTP to HTTPS redirection, and here is how:

Huge increase in WordPress xmlrpc.php POST requests

WordPress xmlprc.php DDoS and brute-force attacks. How to identify, block, mitigate and leverage these xmlrpc.php scans, brute-force, and user enumeration attacks on WordPress sites… Secure WordPress xmlprc.php interface and reduce service disruption.

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Remove IIS Server version HTTP Response Header

Remove HTTP response headers in IIS 7, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 10 and ASP.NET

Windows Server IIS loves to tell the world that a website runs on IIS. It does so with the Server header in the HTTP response, as shown below. In this post I’ll show you how to remove response server headers in IIS. You don’t want to give hackers too much information about your servers, heh? ;-).

IIS Outbound Rules with gzip compression

Saotn.org uses used URL Rewrite Outbound Rules in IIS, to offload content from a different server and/or host name. This is also known as IIS with URL Rewrite as a reverse proxy, and should improve website performance. Just recently I noticed Outbound Rules conflicted with gzip compressed content. The following HTTP 500.52 URL Rewrite Module Error was thrown:

Block WordPress comment spammers manually

The less spammers hit your WordPress blog, the better your blog performs, is one of my opinions. A second is, the less unnecessary plugins you use on your WordPress blog, the better. So, a little while ago I decided to remove plugins like Stop Spammer Registration Plugin and do its work myself. Here is why & how: