5 Most Important WordPress Security Plugins

WordPress is the most popular and widely used blogging platform. It supports every kind of website from a simple blog to full-featured business websites. Millions of people are using this CMS platform to publish their content on the web.  As well as WordPress security plugins are most important in today’s world.

Due to its popularity, hackers are very interested in hacking websites that use WordPress. In fact, keeping the website and its data is essential in today’s world due to the increase in the number of hacking, botnet, and other security attacks.

WordPress pushes updates to patch all the known vulnerabilities, but the third party themes and plugins make this framework vulnerable.

In this article, we will cover the best 5 WordPress security plugins and it will be most useful to you.These plugins can help to reduce the risk of your website being hacked. These security plugins offer several features to make your WordPress blog secure from known vulnerabilities. The below WordPress security tips will be helpful for you. There are free WordPress security plugins along with the premium security plugins.

5 Important WordPress Security Plugins are

1. Wordfence security

2. iThemes security

3. Sucuri security

4. Bulletproof security

5. All in one WordPress security & firewall

Wordfence Security

Wordfence security is one of the most full-featured security plugins available. With more than 2 million active installs this plugin is one of the best security plugin developed. This plugin is a free and open source. Even though, it has a premium version that allows you to receive instant updates.

This plugin will check if your site is infected with any malware or suspicious code. Fixing the leaks is up to you, but without considering Wordfence security, you might not even know you are going down. You will get a peace of mind after installing this plugin as it protects your website from brute force attacks and malware infections.

This security plugin featuring firewall protection, malware scan, login security, real-time traffic monitoring, two-factor authentication and much more. It scans your site for weak spots and alerts you about possible threats to security. Important features of this plugin include:

1. Supports advanced login security measures

2. Can automatically block IPs depending on suspicious activity

3. Protects from brute-force attacks

4. It has an elegant dashboard that keeps you updated with all activities

5. This plugin has a learning ability and you can allow it to be trained according to the nature of the traffic your website receives for first 7 days, this makes plugin detect hacking activities on your website in a better way

6. Enables you to scan WordPress site for vulnerabilities

7. Alerts you via email if any threats pop up

8. Blocks fake Google bots from crawling your website

9. Supports advanced login security measures

10. It is multisite compatible and has a 2-factor authentication

Wordfence Pros:

• One of the easiest plugin to use. You can use it without any difficulty

• Supports automatic alerts for security threats

• It is entirely open-source

• Provides you different tools which you can customize too

• Shows you live traffic which helps you in identifying the upcoming threads

• Provides firewall protection for your website. You can customize it as per your requirements

• You can secure multiple websites with this plugin

Wordfence Cons:

• Only premium users can schedule and automate security scans

• The plugin offers site scans which scan your entire website for vulnerabilities. This seems to be positive, but it actually takes up a lot of bandwidth and can slow your site down, so that’s something to consider.

iThemes security

Among all other WordPress security plugins, iTheme security is the best WordPress security plugin. iTheme security commonly called as WP Security. It gives security for more than 30+ ways to protect your WordPress. On an average of nearly, 30,000 sites are being hacked every day. WordPress sites are easy to attack because of its weak password, obsolete software, and vulnerabilities.

To overcome this problem iTheme security is the best plugin for WordPress site which will lock down the WordPress, stop the automated attacks, fix common problems and strengthen user credentials.

It fixes vulnerabilities relating to your theme, plugins and strengthens website security in each and every way. It scans file system regularly to find infections and common holes through which hackers may initiate an attack on your site. There is an advanced feature in iTheme security which is helpful for experienced users.

There are many pro features for iTheme security. They are,

1. Two-Factor Authentication – Uses a mobile app such as Google Authenticator, Authy to generate a code or have a generated code emailed to you

2. WordPress Salts & Security Keys – The iThemes Security plugin makes updating your WordPress keys and salts easy

3. Malware Scan Scheduling – Have your site scanned for malware automatically each day. If an issue is found, an email is sent with the details

4. Password Security – Generate strong passwords right from your profile screen

5. Password Expiration – Set a maximum password age and force users to choose a new password. You can force all users to choose a new password immediately (if needed)

6. Google reCAPTCHA – Protect your site against spammers

7. User Action Logging – Track when users edit content, log in or log out.

8. Import/Export Settings – Saves time setting up multiple WordPress sites.

9. Dashboard Widget – Manage important tasks such as user banning and system scans right from the WordPress dashboard

10. Online File Comparison – When a file change is detected it will scan the origin of the files to determine if the change was malicious or not. Currently works only on WordPress core but plugins and themes are coming

11. Temporary Privilege Escalation – give a contractor or someone else temporary admin or editor access to your site that will automatically reset itself

12. wp-cli Integration – Manage your site’s security from the command line

iThemes Pros:

• Prevents brute force attacks by banning users and bots with repeated failed login attempts

• Detects vulnerabilities and fixes them in seconds

• Prevents unauthorized changes in the file system

• Renames content directory, database table prefix, and login URL to prevent hacking attempts

• Enforces strong passwords for all user accounts

• It is a malware scan

• It is compatible with multi-sites

• Detects hidden 404 errors on the site

• Sets a maximum password age for all user accounts or force them to change it immediately during emergency situations

• It is a two-factor authentication

• Tracks users, know when they log in, edit content and log out from the site

iThemes Cons:

• Can make your website vulnerable to hacking or open to security issues

• It is not as mature as other options

• Like any other advanced security plugins, it also has the potential to cause problems. Because it could make significant changes to database and site files. This is not the right plugin if you are on a shared hosting platform because it could consume lots of resources during the scan

• Scheduled malware scan, two-factor authentication, password expiration, user logging and Google reCAPTCHA are available for premium subscribers

Sucuri security is a free WordPress plugin that is recognized globally due to its outstanding authority in all issues relates to site security. It is widely reputed plugin for WordPress.

1. File integrity monitoring and blacklist monitoring

2. Malware scanning and detection

3. It is an effective security hardening

4. Safety from zero-day disclosure patches

5. It analyses the activity and takes post-hack security actions

6. Provides you security notifications keeping you alert

7. Website firewall: it is a premium feature and you will have to pay for it

Sucuri Pros:

• It is a website security company that creates tools and plugins for securing websites on different platforms including WordPress. No other security plugin offers a DNS level firewall

• Improves the performance of your WordPress website

• It is a world-class protection for your website

• Prevents brute force attacks effectively

• Continuous website monitoring let you identify the threats quickly

• File change detection on schedule

• Helps you in accessing the hacked sites

Sucuri Cons:

• Firewall and scheduled scans are available only in the premium version

• It doesn’t provide your firewall, you can get it after spending extra money

• Its interface will be difficult for users

• Very expensive as compared to other plugins

Bulletproof security

Bulletproof security is really a great must have security plugin for WordPress.This plugin takes care of various things, in addition to your website security. It is better to tighten your WordPress security with bulletproof protection.

One of the important plugin to secure your website and server from over thousands of known, unknown hacking attempts and infections. The plugin delivers most modern tools and services to detect vulnerabilities, malicious code injections, fake traffic, file system change and other tweaks that negatively affect your website security.

1. It is a one-click setup wizard

2. Login security and monitoring

3. A record of the number of login attempts

4. File monitoring and quarantining of upload files

5. Email alerts for a variety of user actions

6. Alerts when suspected malicious activity affects your site

7. Four click setup interface

8. Checks the IP blocking and code scanners

9. Idle session logouts feature

10. Regular database backups to prevent any loss of data

11. Firewall security-secures your .htaccess files

12. Frontend/ backend maintenance mode

Bulletproof Pros:

• It has firewall features which prevent your website from malicious scripts

• Protects your site from brute force attacks

• Alerts you to coming threats

• You can take full or partial backups of your data

• Real-time monitoring of traffic and hacking attempts

• Regular updates are available

• It is loaded with all the essential features

Bulletproof Cons:

• Some features are available in pro version only

• Has complicated settings

• Has no malware scan

• There is no two-factor authentication

• Its interface is quite complex to use

All in one WordPress security & firewall

All in one WordPress security & firewall plugin is one of the most preferred WordPress security plugins. Unlike other plugins, most of its features are free except malware scan.

1. Security levels are categorized into basic, intermediate and advanced

2. Login lockdown features secure the website against brute force login attacks

3. The strength meter gauge intimidates the security score

4. .htaccess and wp-config.php backup and restore

5. Database and file system security

6. User registration security

7. User login security

8. Blacklist and firewall functionality

9. Front-end text copy protection

10. Comment spam security

All in one WordPress security Pros:

• Monitor user accounts and invalid login attempts

• Login lockdown feature to protect you from brute force attacks

• Insert mathematics CAPTCHA in login, user registration, lost password and comment forms

• Analyse the strength of your password in one click

• Track a certain user by IP address, domain name

• Rename database table, login page URL

• File change detection scan on schedule

• It has password strength tool which will help you and your visitors to create strong passwords

• Regularly updated to prevent any loophole in the plugin functionality

• Provides security solution including firewall setup, database security, user security etc

All in one WordPress security Cons:

• Malware scan is a premium service

• The intermediate and advanced may not be compatible with the theme and other plugins. Before proceeding with these features, get acquainted with the basic security feature

 Final thoughts

However, a huge number of WordPress security plugins are available. Each plugin has certain features, user reviews and the number of downloads. Secure your WordPress website from the known and unknown attacks using any of the aforementioned plugins. These free WordPress security plugins make wonders for your website protecting from hackers.

If you have any doubts ask using the comment section. I’m happy to help you. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for to get more latest updates about WordPress.