Can brute force attacks make your VPS overload?

[christax]

Just purchased a VPS but after received account info from the provider some days I received too many emails about brute force attacks through my web hosting control panel and sometimes my VPS is high load, I could not find out the problem. My question is, brute force attacks can make your VPS overload or CPUs high load?

 

[RDO Servers]

Yes, they can. It all depends on the size (speed) of the attack, and how many pages are being bute forced.

Contact your provider. They should be able to assist you in isolating and blocking the attack traffic

 

[christax]

christax

How to measure the size of the attack?

What ways or tools can I do for my VPS to stop bot traffic?

 

[tarunap]

According you response. I feel you have cPanel/WHM Panel installed on your VPS. Make sure you enable the brute force protection in the Security Services section of WHM panel. Configure the brute force protection with proper inputs which suits you best.

[URLnf="https://documentation.cpanel.net/display/ALD/cPHulk+Brute+Force+Protection"]https://documentation.cpanel.net/display/ALD/cPHulk+Brute+Force+Protection[/URLnf]

Here you can find detailed information on Brute force protection.

You can use CSF Firewall for protecting against the brute force attacks. CSF firewall has GUI interface for WHM Panel. You can configure it as per your needs.

 

[laceibanet]

a brute force attack can transition to being a ddos as it's sending so many requests that it can overload your server. So having brute force protection on your vps is essential. If you're using something like cpanel you can use the integrated cphulk to protect the server. Block ip or limit access to only a few login attempts before blocking them .

 

[christax]

According you response. I feel you have cPanel/WHM Panel installed on your VPS. Make sure you enable the brute force protection in the Security Services section of WHM panel. Configure the brute force protection with proper inputs which suits you best.

Thanks guys, I have to check this, I didn't know it has an option there.

a brute force attack can transition to being a ddos as it's sending so many requests that it can overload your server. So having brute force protection on your vps is essential. If you're using something like cpanel you can use the integrated cphulk to protect the server. Block ip or limit access to only a few login attempts before blocking them .

Does cPHulk work as ConfigServer Security & Firewall on some hosting control panels?

 

[hostslim]

It really depends on the size of the attack. Do you currently host a CP that shows you the exact details? Do you have a firewall or ddos protection in place?

 

[vps9]

Yes it affects the CPU and leads to CPU Overload. Now many hosting companies provide Basic security services or basic DDOS protection on almost hosting services. you can even take this as an addon.

 

[ElixantTechnology]

There are many things that can be causing high load on your VPS, brute force of course being one of them. A couple things I would recommend you check into:

1. MySQL Optimization
2. Apache Optimization
3. A good Firewall that detects brute force attacks (CSF is great in most cases)
4. The software itself
5. Malware
6. Outgoing Email

As for #4; be sure the software you are using is optimized and properly coded. 99.999% of the time load issues are caused by bad code or excessive plugins.

 

[Tshepo]

I am caring on these problems, could you provider future information

There are many things that can be causing high load on your VPS, brute force of course being one of them. A couple things I would recommend you check into:

1. MySQL Optimization

What is MySQL Optimization? how to optimize my Mysql to work best?

2. Apache Optimization

Never heard of this techniques before.

6. Outgoing Email

What is Outgoing Email and why it makes our server overload.

 

[ElixantTechnology]

MySQL Optimization is done based on the hardware specification assigned to the VPS as well as the web applications requirements and editing of the my.cnf file in Linux and my.ini file in Windows.

Apache needs to be optimized to handle the traffic as well, another method is by putting static content behind NGINX and dynamic behind Apache.

As for out going email, if you are sending lots of email or Malware is than that can cause lots of server load. Also, a majority of brute force attacks are in regards to email accounts.

Traditionally, if you are running a mission critical website I would recommend a managed solution if you don't know how to do these correctly.. Or hire someone to do so for you.