Why Every Website Faces Ongoing Attack Attempts
Every website is facing ongoing attack attempts right now.
Not because someone is targeting your site personally, but because nefarious automated bots are constantly scanning the internet for weaknesses to exploit. Small sites, quiet sites, brochure sites, it doesn’t matter. If your site is online, it’s part of that environment.
The good news is this is manageable. With the right protections in place, most of this activity never reaches your website at all.
At Get Kenneth, we use a powerful tool called Cloudflare, a global network firewall that sits in front of your website, to filter bad traffic before it ever reaches your website.
Why These “Hack Attempts” Even Happen
Most small business websites are not being targeted individually.
What’s actually happening is broad, automated scanning. Programs run day and night, checking the internet for sites that respond in ways that suggest a known weakness. They do not care what your business does or whether you sell anything online.
Years ago, website attacks were often about defacing pages or causing mischief. Today, the goals are usually more practical and less visible.
A compromised website can be used to:
- Borrow computing power for spam or other automated tasks
- Quietly host fake login pages or scam forms
- Redirect a small number of visitors to shady ads or downloads
- Become one small piece of a much larger network doing something dishonest elsewhere
Most of this happens without obvious signs. That’s why these scans exist in the first place.
The key thing to understand is this: Your site is not special. It’s just part of the internet. And the internet gets scanned constantly.
The Simple Goal
Because this background activity is expected, our approach is intentionally straightforward:
- Stop traffic that clearly does not belong
- Slow down and verify traffic that might be legitimate
- Stay out of the way of real visitors and site admins
This protection runs continuously in the background. There is nothing you need to manage day to day.
What Gets Blocked Automatically
Some requests have no valid reason to reach a WordPress site. When Cloudflare sees these, they are blocked outright.
This includes things like:
- Automated attempts to access outdated or unused WordPress features
- Known exploit paths that normal websites do not use
- Old system files that attackers still probe for out of habit
Blocking these removes noise and reduces risk without affecting real visitors.
What Gets Checked Instead of Blocked
Other parts of a website are used by real people, but they are also common targets for automated attacks. In these cases, we do not block access. We simply ask Cloudflare to confirm the visitor is human.
This happens for:
- The default WordPress login page
- Requests that do not identify themselves as a normal web browser
- Traffic coming from regions where the site does not normally operate
For real people, this check is quick and usually invisible. Automated tools tend to fail and are stopped.
Why This Works Well
This setup is designed to be:
- Quiet and unobtrusive
- Stable across updates
- Safe for normal visitors
- Effective against common automated abuse
We avoid overly aggressive rules that can break parts of a site or cause confusing behavior later. The goal is protection, not friction.
What This Does Not Replace
Network-level protection is one layer of security, not the only one.
You still benefit from:
- Keeping WordPress and plugins up to date
- Using strong passwords
- Regular backups
- Ongoing site maintenance
Cloudflare helps reduce noise and risk, but good site care still matters.
A Practical, Balanced Approach
Website security does not need to be complicated to be effective.
By blocking what clearly does not belong, and gently verifying what might, we keep your site protected without getting in the way of the people who matter.
If you ever want to understand how your site is protected, or review the setup, just ask.
