WP Author Security for WordPress Plugin Directory
WP Author Security is a WordPress app, with a 5.0 average rating from 2 reviews, as of Aug 31, 2026.
WP Author Security is a WordPress Plugin Directory app by mgm security partners GmbH. With a rating of 5.0★ from 2 reviews.
AppRanks verdict
Generated from live marketplace data — refreshed daily
WP Author Security is a category-leading WordPress app with a limited review volume. Category data on the canonical marketplace listing is currently incomplete, so AppRanks falls back to platform-wide rather than category-relative comparison for this listing. 2 reviews put it in the early-traction tier — useful for early-stage stores willing to be on the leading edge. Early-traction review counts are sensitive to single launch periods or feature events, so a 30-day re-check before bigger commitments often resolves whether the trend is sustained. Paid-only pricing means evaluating fit on the marketplace listing or via the developer's documentation before installing. AppRanks tracks rating, review count, pricing tier, and category position daily — the figures on this page reflect the most recent scrape from the canonical WordPress Plugin Directory listing.
Pros
- +High average rating (5.0★) signals consistent merchant satisfaction
- +Published by mgm security partners GmbH — established developer track record
Cons
- −Limited review base (2) — ratings can shift significantly with new feedback
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How WP Author Security works
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WP Author Security is a lightweight but powerful plugin to protect against user enumeration attacks on author pages and other places where valid user names can be obtained.
By default, WordPress will display some sensitive information on author pages.
The author page is typically called by requesting the URI https://yourdomain.tld/?author=<id> or with permalinks https://yourdomain.tld/author/<username>.
The page will include (depending on your theme) the full name (first and last name) as well as the username of the author which is used to log in to WordPress.
In some cases, it is not wanted to expose this information to the public. An attacker is able to brute force valid IDs or valid usernames. This information might be used for further attacks like social engineering attacks or log in brute force attacks with gathered usernames.
However, when using the plugin and you disable author pages completely it must be noted that you need to take care that your active theme will not display the author name itself on posts like “Posted by admin” or something like that. This is something the plugin will not handle (at the moment).
By using the extension, you are able to disable the author pages either completely or display them only when the author has at least one published post. When the page is disabled the default 404 error page of the active theme is displayed.
In addition, the plugin will also protect other locations which are commonly used by attackers to gather valid user names. These are:
The REST API for users which will list all users with published posts by default.
https://yourdomain.tld/wp-json/wp/v2/users
The log in page where different error messages will indicate whether an entered user name or mail address exists or not. The plugin will display a neutral error message independently whether the user exists or not.
The password forgotten function will also allow an attacker to check for the existence of a user. As for the log in page the plugin will display a neutral message even when the user does not exists.
Requesting the feed endpoint /feed of your blog will also allow others to see the username or display name of the author. The plugin will remove the name from the result list.
WordPress supports so-called oEmbeds. This is a technique to embed a reference to a post into another post. However, this reference will also contain the author name and a direct link to the profile page. The plugin will also remove the name and link here.
Since WordPress 5.5 a default sitemap can be reached via /wp-sitemap.xml. This sitemap will disclose the usernames of all authors. If this should not be disclosed you are able to disable this feature of WordPress.
Competitors & alternatives
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Frequently asked questions
What is WP Author Security?
WP Author Security is an app for WordPress. It currently holds a 5.0-star rating from 2 merchant reviews, and AppRanks has been tracking its public marketplace data on the refresh cadence published in our methodology. AppRanks tracks its category position, review-velocity trend, and the top alternatives in the same space. Developed by mgm security partners GmbH.