WordPress Security Plugins To Protect Your Blog
Securing a WordPress site is crucial, and using security plugins can greatly enhance its protection. High-value websites require security beyond what web hosts can provide, and WordPress security plugins are the most effective way to secure your website. A WordPress security plugin protects your website from malware, brute-force attacks, and hacking attempts. Security plugins are designed to prevent attacks and provide complete security reports for your WordPress site.
In this blog, we will share some of the best WordPress security plugins you can use to protect your website.
Why Use a WordPress Security Plugin?
We use a WordPress Security Plugin because millions of websites are infected with malware at any given time each week. An average website is attacked 94 times daily, including both non-WordPress and WordPress websites. And using a WordPress security plugin is important for several reasons:
1) Hackers can steal your data or the data belonging to your users and customers.
2) A compromised website can be used to distribute malicious code to unsuspecting users and other websites.
3) You can permanently lose data, lose access to your website, or your data could be held hostage.
4) Your website can be destroyed or defaced, affecting your SEO rankings and brand reputation.
Now you can scan your WordPress site for security breaches at any time. One of the most important steps in securing your WordPress site is to use a WordPress security plugin. These are plugins that help you harden WordPress security while blocking brute force attacks on your website.
Best WordPress Security Plugins
1) Sucuri WordPress Security Plugin
Sucuri is a highly regarded website security company that offers a range of services designed to protect websites from various online threats. “Sucuri is popular among web developers and online businesses for its exceptional cybersecurity products and services. Sucuri’s free WordPress security plugin, which gives you extensive control over your site and a comprehensive overview of its security-related aspects, is among these offerings.
But the real value is in the paid plans, which come with the best WordPress firewall protection. A firewall helps you block brute force and malicious attacks from accessing WordPress.
Sucuri website firewall filters out bad traffic even before it reaches your server. They also serve static content from their own CDN servers.
Pros And Cons of Sucuri
Pros
Cons
2) Jetpack WordPress Security Plugin
Jetpack enjoys a strong presence in the security sphere, but most of it is attributed to its makers—Automattic. Jetpack was previously known as VaultPress, which was a backup plugin. It is now bundled with added features like security, performance and migration, and has been rebranded as Jetpack. And it offers a wide range of features aimed at enhancing the functionality, security, and performance of WordPress websites.
Jetpack offers a wide range of features designed to enhance the functionality, security, and performance of WordPress websites. Jetpack is a versatile plugin that can benefit both beginners and experienced users of WordPress by adding powerful features without the need for multiple plugins from different developers. It’s widely used in the WordPress community for its convenience and robustness.
Pros And Cons of Jetpack
Pros
- Comprehensive activity log
- Bundled with other important maintenance features
- Seamless support
- External dashboard
- Integrated with WordPress.com account
Cons
3) All-in-One WordPress Security Plugin
“All In One WP Security is a free, popular, and versatile security plugin. This add-on boasts a wide range of features for its (lack of) price, including malware and vulnerability scanning, login protection, comment spam protection, user monitoring, database backups, a firewall, and other ways to harden your website.
It attracts a lot of people who do not know WordPress security well, but the million-dollar question is: does it work? Because for a security plugin, being free is secondary to its efficacy.
All-in-One has a security “scanner”, which is basically a file change detection scanner and alerts you if it notices any changes in your WordPress files.
Pros and Cons of All In One Security
Pros
Cons
4) iThemes Security
iThemes is one of the more popular security plugins for WordPress and is used widely. Therefore, we decided to cover it so that we could share our testing experience. iThemes security uses a lot of complex language and makes a ton of claims on their website. So imagine our shock when we discovered that the security plugin is almost entirely pointless.
iThemes has a ‘site scanner’—they carefully avoid the term malware scanner on their site. The reason for this is that iThemes does not scan for malware on your site at all. Instead, the site scanner only checks if your website is on the Google blacklist. And then when we tested our sites on iThemes, it showed no signs of malware at all.
Pros and Cons of iThemes Security
Pros
- Strong two-factor authentication
- Good user management
Cons
- No malware scanning
- No cleanups
- No firewall
- Brute force protection inadequate
- Overall bad security
5) Wordfence WordPress Security Plugin
“Wordfence performs these scans regularly and automatically and alerts you if it detects a threat, vulnerability, or corrupted file. While it doesn’t offer restore options for the latter, it will tell you how the file has been changed so you can repair it faster. The free version includes a website firewall for keeping bots off your site — unlike most security plugins, which only offer a firewall in their premium version.
The free version of Wordfence also includes login attempt limits to stop brute force attacks and live traffic monitoring which tracks who is visiting your site (be it humans, good bots, or bad bots) and reports malicious intrusion attempts in real-time.
Pros and Cons of Wordfence Security
Pros
Cons
6) BulletProof Security
“BulletProof Security is a suitable choice if you’re looking for a more advanced, hands-on security plugin. This plugin does its tasks through the main .htaccess file, and its main features improve database security, firewall security, and login hardening.
BulletProof also includes manual and scheduled database backups, security logging and HTTP error logging, and the option to turn on maintenance mode. So you can introduce chances without exposing potential performance issues to your visitors.
The installation and configuration can take some trial and error for the novice user, and the interface is better designed for advanced users.
Pros and Cons of BulletProof Security Plugin
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
In conclusion, utilizing a WordPress security plugin is essential for safeguarding your website against a multitude of threats in the digital landscape. These plugins offer robust protection through features like malware scanning, firewall protection, and brute force attack prevention, which are crucial for maintaining the integrity and security of your site.
Choosing the right security plugin depends on various factors such as the specific security needs of your site, ease of use, compatibility with your WordPress setup, and budget considerations. Popular options like Wordfence, Sucuri, and iThemes Security provide comprehensive tools and services that cater to different aspects of website security, from proactive monitoring to responsive incident management.
FAQ's
WordPress security plugins are required to prevent malware attacks, detect malware on your site—if any, and consequently clean up the malware. A security plugin can help you prevent a lot of stress and losses in the future. We recommend MalCare for its top-of-the-industry scanner, flawless cleanups, and an intelligent firewall. MalCare also offers login protection, WordPress hardening, vulnerability detection, and more.
Yes, all the plugins that we have listed have been thoroughly researched and tested. While they may differ in efficacy, their legitimacy is not doubtful. You can use these plugins and find if it is a good fit for you.
As far as free WordPress security plugins go, WordFence is undoubtedly one of the best. However, its scanner only works at its 60% capacity. On the other hand, MalCare’s free version allows you to scan your website and determine if you have malware on your site. It is undoubtedly the best free scanner available today. If you need to locate the malware, or clean it up from your website, upgrade to MalCare’s premium version.
While some security plugins can impact site performance slightly due to additional processing, reputable plugins are optimized to minimize any noticeable slowdown. Choosing a well-coded plugin and configuring it properly can help mitigate performance impacts.
You should keep your security plugin updated to the latest version to ensure you have the latest security patches and features. Most plugins offer automatic updates, which you can enable for convenience.
Yes, there are many free security plugins available in the WordPress plugin repository. Some popular free options include Wordfence Security, Sucuri Security, and iThemes Security.
