Admin Safety Guard vs VMP Security – The All-In-One Security and Firewall Plugin

Admin Safety Guard locks down the two places WordPress sites actually get broken into: the login form and the admin area. You don’t need to know what a firewall rule is to use it. Turn on a switch, pick a number, save. The plugin handles the rest and shows you, in plain words, what it blocked and what still needs your attention. If you have ever looked at your login log and seen hundreds of failed attempts for a user called “admin” that you never created, this plugin is for you. How WordPress sites get broken into Almost every automated attack follows the same three steps: A bot loads yoursite.com/wp-login.php, because that address is the same on every WordPress site in the world. It guesses usernames and passwords, thousands of times an hour, until one works. Once it’s in, it installs a backdoor, injects spam links, or quietly adds itself as an administrator. Admin Safety Guard breaks that chain at every step, and every feature below is free. Free features Limit login attempts (on by default) Lock out an IP address after a set number of failed sign-ins. You choose how many attempts are allowed, how long the lockout lasts, and what the person sees. Keep failing and the address is blocked for a full 24 hours. This is the one feature that switches itself on when you activate the plugin, so your site is covered before you configure anything. It doesn’t only watch wp-login.php. XML-RPC, application passwords and custom theme login forms all count towards the same limit, which is how most bots get around simpler login limiters. Add your own IP to the trusted list so you can never lock yourself out. Single addresses, CIDR ranges (203.0.113.0/24), wildcards (203.0.113.*) and IPv6 all work. Custom login URL Move your sign-in page to an address only you know, like yoursite.com/office-door. After that, wp-login.php and wp-register.php return a 404 for everyone, so scanners find nothing to attack. It works on root installs, WordPress in a subfolder, and multisite. Reserved slugs that would break your site are rejected before you can save them. Two-factor authentication by email After the password comes a one-time code, sent to the user’s inbox. A stolen password on its own becomes useless. You decide which roles need it (administrators and editors only, for example), how many digits the code has, how long it stays valid, and how many wrong guesses are allowed before it’s destroyed. The email is styled by default, and you can write your own subject and body if you’d rather. Google reCAPTCHA (v2 and v3) Add reCAPTCHA to your login form to stop bots before they ever submit a password. Both the “I’m not a robot” checkbox and the invisible v3 score check are supported. Paste in your site key and secret key, pick a version, done. Session security Everything above protects the sign-in. This protects what happens after it. WordPress keeps a session alive for two days, or fourteen if someone ticked “Remember Me” – however long the laptop sits open in a coffee shop. Sign people out after a period of inactivity, shorten the maximum session length, end every other session when someone changes their password, and optionally tie a session to the IP address it started from so a copied cookie stops working elsewhere. IP blocking Some addresses don’t deserve a second chance. Add them to the permanent block list and they never reach your login page again. You can also block an address in one click straight from the login log. Login logs and activity tracking A real audit trail: every successful sign-in and every failed attempt, with username, IP address, browser, and timestamp. Search it, sort it, page through it, export it to CSV for a client report, or clear out old entries by date range. You can also get an email the first time an administrator signs in from an address that account has never used before. That’s often the earliest sign that a password has leaked. Threats blocked Every block the plugin performs is recorded in one place: lockouts, blocked addresses, failed reCAPTCHA checks, wrong two-factor codes, blocked XML-RPC requests, username-discovery attempts. The dashboard shows what was stopped and when, so “is anything actually happening?” has a real answer. Security score The score grades your site, not the plugin. It checks the things that matter – HTTPS, whether core and PHP are current, whether an account is literally called “admin”, whether your usernames are public, whether file editing is still enabled – and weighs them against the protections you have switched on. Anything critical gets flagged at the top of your admin screen until it’s dealt with. Privacy hardening Nine one-click switches that close the small leaks attackers use for reconnaissance: Disable XML-RPC Block username discovery through ?author=1 and the REST users endpoint Show one generic error instead of telling people which half of the login was wrong Hide your WordPress version from page source, feeds and asset URLs Remove the RSD, Windows Live Writer and shortlink meta tags Disable pingbacks so your site can’t be used to flood someone else’s Disable the theme and plugin file editors Send browser security headers (clickjacking, MIME sniffing, referrer leaks, camera and microphone access) Disable application passwords Password protect the whole site Put a password in front of everything. Handy for staging sites, client previews and coming-soon pages. Choose how long access lasts and which roles skip it. Hide the admin bar by role Decide which roles see the toolbar on the front end. Hide it from subscribers and customers, keep it for editors and administrators. Brand your login page Swap the WordPress logo for yours, set its size, where it links to, and its alt text. Change the page background (colour or image), the form background, text, link and button colours, round off the corners, hide the links you don’t want, tick “Remember Me” by default, or write your own CSS. Ready-made templates are included if you’d rather not fiddle. Firewall and malware overview One screen showing your firewall status, with a link to our free Deep Malware Cleaner plugin for scanning and cleanup. If it’s already installed, the screen takes you straight to it. Pro features Admin Safety Guard Pro adds the tools agencies and busier sites tend to ask for. Passwordless login (magic links) Users click a one-time link in their email instead of typing a password. The link works once and then expires. 2FA with an authenticator app Google Authenticator, Authy and anything else that speaks TOTP. Users scan a QR code once and generate codes on their phone from then on – no email delivery to wait for. Social login Let people sign in with Google, Facebook or other accounts they already have, while you keep control of which providers are allowed. Database prefix check The default wp_ prefix is known to every attacker and makes SQL injection easier to write. This finds your current prefix and walks you through changing it safely. Strong password enforcement Set a minimum password strength. Weak passwords get rejected at the point they’re created, not after an incident. Advanced web application firewall Inspect incoming requests and block SQL injection and cross-site scripting payloads before WordPress ever sees them. Run it in monitor-only mode first, whitelist trusted addresses, block user agents, and cap request size. Malware scanning and cleanup Handled by our separate free plugin, Deep Malware Cleaner, rather than a second half-built scanner in here. Upgrade to Pro to unlock all Pro features. Who uses it Bloggers and content creators – protection that runs in the background with nothing to maintain. Small business owners – your site is your shopfront. A hack costs you customers and takes days to clean up. WooCommerce stores – customer records, addresses and order history sit behind that login form. Lock it properly. Freelancers and web designers – hand over a site that’s already hardened and branded, without a security bill attached. Agencies – the same repeatable setup across every client site, with logs you can export when someone asks what happened. Developers – every limit, message and redirect is configurable, and the features are built on standard hooks and filters you can extend. What’s different about it Light. Admin assets only load on the plugin’s own screens, and only the code for the screen you’re actually looking at. Nothing is added to your front end. Useful straight away. Limit login attempts switches itself on at activation. You’re protected before you open the settings. Honest about free vs Pro. Pro features are visible and clearly labelled. Nothing pretends to be free and then asks for a card. Written to WordPress standards. Inputs sanitised, output escaped, nonces on every request, prepared statements on every query, and a real uninstall routine that removes its own data when you delete it. Support Free support is on the WordPress.org forum. For anything Pro-related or urgent, use our contact form. External Services This plugin uses the following third-party and external services: 1) Google reCAPTCHA (Google LLC) Purpose: Used to protect forms from spam and automated abuse. When it is used: – When reCAPTCHA is enabled in plugin settings – On login forms and support forms protected by reCAPTCHA What data is sent: – User IP address – reCAPTCHA response token generated by Google – Browser information as required by Google reCAPTCHA Service provider: Google LLC Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy 2) ThemePaste API (Plugin Author Service) Purpose: Used for: – Collecting optional admin email addresses for plugin updates and notifications – Sending support requests from the plugin support form – Collecting optional feedback when a user attempts to deactivate the plugin – Managing plugin-related notifications (only if the user provides contact details) When it is used: – When a user submits the built-in support form – When a user opts to send diagnostic information – Submitting the optional deactivation feedback form What data is sent: – Name – Email address – Phone number (if provided) – Message content – Site URL – Plugin name – Feedback text (if provided) – Support message content – Deactivation reason (if provided) No data is sent without user action. Service provider: ThemePaste.com Terms of Service: https://themepaste.com/terms-condition Privacy Policy: https://themepaste.com/privacy-policy Development / Source Code This plugin ships compiled JavaScript bundles in: – assets/admin/build/*.bundle.js The original, human-readable source files are included in this plugin under: – spa/admin/ They are also available at https://github.com/themepaste/admin-safety-guard Build Tools – Node.js (LTS recommended) – npm – Webpack + Babel Source Entry Points The admin SPA bundles are built from the following entry points: spa/admin/login-template/Main.jsx -> assets/admin/build/loginTemplate.bundle.js spa/admin/login-logs-activity/Main.jsx -> assets/admin/build/loginLogActivity.bundle.js spa/admin/analytics/Main.jsx -> assets/admin/build/analytics.bundle.js spa/admin/security-core/Main.jsx -> assets/admin/build/securityCore.bundle.js spa/admin/firewall-malware/Main.jsx -> assets/admin/build/firewallMalware.bundle.js spa/admin/privacy-hardening/Main.jsx -> assets/admin/build/privacyHardening.bundle.js spa/admin/2fa-using-mobile-app/Main.jsx -> assets/admin/build/twoFAUsingMobileApp.bundle.js React and the webpack runtime are extracted into shared chunks (framework.bundle.js and runtime.bundle.js) so they are downloaded once rather than being inlined into every bundle. Install Dependencies From the plugin root directory (where package.json lives): 1) Install dependencies: npm install Build (Production) To generate the production bundles: npm run build Output Location Webpack outputs the compiled bundles to: assets/admin/build/[name].bundle.js Important Notes – Do not edit files in assets/admin/build/ directly. They are generated files. – Edit the source files under spa/admin/ and re-run the build command. – For WordPress.org distribution, production builds should be used (mode=production). Links Website Documentation Pro Version Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn Instagram

POWERFUL WORDPRESS SECURITY, FIREWALL & MALWARE SCANNER PLUGIN Every day, 3,500 websites are hacked or infected with malware. Don’t leave your site exposed. VMP Security is a powerful WordPress security plugin that gives you 750+ firewall rules, 9 specialized malware scanners, 170,000+ threat signatures, country blocking, audit log preview, two-factor authentication, and brute force protection. Free runs the full rule set and signature corpus on your site — new additions reach Free 30 days after Premium. Everything runs on your server, ensuring full website security and data privacy. Your files and database never leave your hosting environment. Remember, most WordPress security plugins hold back critical protection behind paywalls or delay updates for free users. VMP Security doesn’t. What’s Included ✅ Web Application Firewall — 750+ rules running on your site (new rule additions reach Free 30 days after Premium), zero-day detection, pre-WordPress execution mode ✅ 9 Malware Scanners — Malware, file integrity, CVE, user accounts, content, public files, server state, binary, domain reputation ✅ Country Blocking — Block by country, login-only or full-site (free — competitors charge for this) ✅ Custom Bot Allowlist — Allow trusted bots (SEO, AI, monitoring), verified by IP range, reverse DNS, or ASN — never a spoofable User-Agent ✅ Brute Force & Rate Limiting — Login limits, leaked password detection, bot throttling ✅ Two-Factor Authentication — QR setup, backup codes, role enforcement, WooCommerce support ✅ Audit Log & Live Traffic — Complete security event history with real-time monitoring ✅ Privacy-First — All scanning on your server. Files and database never sent externally. See It In Action How VMP Security Compares +------------------------------+-------------------+-------------------+----------------------------+ | Feature | VMP Security Free | Wordfence Free | Wordfence Premium ($149/yr)| +------------------------------+-------------------+-------------------+----------------------------+ | Firewall rules | ✅ - 750+ | ✅ | ✅ | | Real-time rule updates | ❌ - 30-day delay| ❌ - 30-day delay | ✅ | | Malware signatures | ✅ - 170,000+ | ✅ - 44,000+ | ✅ - 44,000+ | | Real-time signature updates | ❌ - 30-day delay| ❌ - 30-day delay | ✅ | | Malware scanners | ✅ 9 specialized | ✅ 1 general | ✅ 1 general | | Country blocking | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | Audit log | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | IP blocklist | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | Two-factor authentication | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | +------------------------------+-------------------+-------------------+----------------------------+ 🔥 Web Application Firewall (WAF) Your first line of defense. Every request is inspected before it reaches WordPress. Blocks malicious traffic in real time, stopping threats before they can execute or exploit vulnerabilities. Runs before WordPress loads, reducing attack surface and protecting plugins, themes, and core files. What It Stops: SQL injection, cross-site scripting, code injection, file inclusion attacks, and more — all major attack types covered 750+ built-in security rules — full rule set running on Free; new rule additions reach Free 30 days after Premium Zero-day protection — pattern-based detection catches new, unknown threats Custom rules — add your own blocking patterns Attack logging — full audit trail of every blocked request Extended Protection (WAF Optimizer) Run the firewall before WordPress loads, so malicious requests are blocked before any vulnerable plugin or theme code can execute. One-click setup with automatic server detection for Apache and LiteSpeed, and built-in backup for safe configuration. Improves WordPress security by reducing attack surface, preventing exploit execution, and strengthening overall firewall protection at the earliest entry point. 🤖 Custom Bot Allowlist (New in 2.3.2) Let the bots you trust through — and stop the ones faking their name. Add any SEO crawler, AI agent, or monitoring service to your allowlist and VMP Security verifies it’s genuine before granting access. A copied User-Agent alone never gets in. Verified, not spoofable — Confirm bots by IP range, forward-confirmed reverse DNS, or network owner (ASN) — not an easily-faked user agent Self-updating IP lists — Vendors’ official published IP ranges (GPTBot, Perplexity, Bing, Apple, and more) are fetched and refreshed daily, so your allowlist never goes stale One-click presets — Ahrefs, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, Apple, Amazonbot, OpenAI (GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, OAI-SearchBot), Anthropic Claude, Perplexity, DuckDuckGo Add any bot — Bring your own with a custom user agent, IP ranges, DNS suffixes, or ASNs Safe by design — SSRF-hardened fetching with guardrails against over-broad ranges; allowlisting by user agent alone is blocked unless you explicitly accept the risk 🔍 9 Specialized Malware Scanners Not just a basic malware scanner. This is a complete WordPress malware scanner and website security system with 9 specialized scanners, each focused on a different threat type to ensure full protection. Detect, analyze, and remove threats with advanced scanning built for modern WordPress security vulnerabilities and malware attacks. Malware Scanner — 170,000+ signatures detect backdoors, trojans, and malicious code File Integrity Monitor — Compares your files against official WordPress checksums Vulnerability Scanner — Checks plugins and themes against known CVEs User Security Scanner — Finds suspicious admin accounts and weak credentials Content Safety Scanner — Detects malicious content injected into posts and comments Public Files Scanner — Finds exposed configuration files (wp-config backups, .env, debug logs) Server State Scanner — Audits PHP settings, file permissions, and server configuration Binary Scanner — Detects malware embedded in images and executables Domain Reputation Scanner — Checks URLs against Google Safe Browsing and threat databases Advanced detection goes beyond traditional malware scanners by using multiple analysis layers to identify both known and unknown threats. Obfuscation analysis detects encoded and hidden malware that basic security plugins often miss, while behavior analysis identifies suspicious file activity and unusual patterns that may indicate new or evolving attacks. A built-in legitimacy assessment helps reduce false positives, ensuring more accurate and reliable malware detection. You can choose from quick scan, standard scan, high sensitivity scan, or fully custom scan modes based on your website security needs. This system is designed for complete WordPress malware removal, vulnerability detection, and full website protection, all running directly on your server without relying on external scanning services. 🌍 Country Blocking & IP Management Block entire countries or fine-tune access with advanced pattern rules. Strengthen your WordPress security by controlling who can access your site based on location, IP address, and request behavior, helping prevent brute force attacks, spam traffic, and malicious bot activity. Geo-Blocking — Block any country, login-only or full site access IP Blocking — Block individual IPs or IP ranges, temporary or permanent Custom Patterns — Block by hostname, user agent, referrer, or IP range with wildcard and regex support Attack Analytics — See which countries attack you most with visual reports Allowlist — Whitelist trusted IPs and services to bypass all blocks GeoIP Integration — Automatic IP-to-country lookup with auto-updating database 🛡️ Brute Force Protection & Rate Limiting Stop password guessing and resource exhaustion attacks. Strengthen your WordPress login security with advanced brute force protection, rate limiting, and bot blocking to prevent unauthorized access, credential stuffing, and automated attacks. Smart Login Limiting — Lock out IPs after too many failed login attempts Leaked Password Detection — Check passwords against known breach databases Strong Password Enforcement — Require secure passwords for all user roles Username Blacklist — Block common attack usernames instantly Rate Limiting — Cap requests per IP to stop scrapers and vulnerability scanners Human vs Bot Detection — Smart traffic classification with 404 monitoring 🔐 Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) Even if someone steals your password, they can’t get in. Add an extra layer of WordPress login security with secure two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access, account takeovers, and brute force login attacks. QR Code Setup — Works with Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password, and more Backup Codes — Never get locked out of your own site Role Enforcement — Require 2FA for admins or specific user roles Frontend Management — Users manage their own 2FA via shortcode WooCommerce & XML-RPC — Covers your store and API endpoints 📊 Dashboard, Monitoring & Tools Set it up in 5 minutes. Go deep when you want to. Manage your WordPress security dashboard with real-time monitoring, detailed audit logs, and advanced security tools to track threats, analyze activity, and take instant action. Security Status — Green, yellow, or red — know your protection level at a glance Live Traffic View — Watch visitors and attacks in real-time with human vs. bot classification Complete Audit Log — Every security event tracked with timestamps and IP intelligence Scheduled Scans — Daily, weekly, or custom scan schedules One-Click Actions — Block IPs, ignore false positives, repair infected files Diagnostics — 15+ system health checks for troubleshooting Settings Export/Import — Backup and migrate security configuration between sites Multi-Site Sync — Manage security across multiple WordPress sites from one place 🔒 Privacy-First Security All scanning happens on YOUR server. Period. Protect your WordPress website security and data privacy with local malware scanning and firewall processing, ensuring your files, database, and user data never leave your hosting environment. What We DON’T Do: ❌ We don’t send your file content or database data to external servers ❌ We don’t track your users ❌ We don’t collect analytics about your site ❌ We don’t send data without your knowledge 🚀 Premium Features (Upgrade for Advanced Protection) Unlock advanced WordPress security, firewall protection, and malware detection with powerful premium features designed for complete website protection: * Real-Time Firewall Rules – Get instant protection with continuously updated WAF rules (no delays) * Real-Time Malware Signatures – Detect the latest threats with up-to-date malware intelligence * Advanced Malware Detection – Enhanced scanning for hidden, obfuscated, and zero-day threats * Full Audit Log – Complete security event history with extended tracking and detailed insights * Country Blocking (GeoIP) – Block traffic by country for better control and attack prevention * Advanced Analytics & Reporting – Deeper insights into attacks, traffic patterns, and security events * Priority Support – Faster assistance from our security team * Off-Site Audit Log Sync – Tamper-proof off-site logging via VMP Security Portal * Continuous Updates & New Features – Stay protected with the latest security improvements External Services (Optional): We use external services only when necessary for specific security features. You can see exactly what’s sent: VMP Security Servers * License activation and validation (free/premium) * WAF rules synchronization and updates * Malware signature database updates * Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) system management * Settings export/import cloud storage (optional) * Privacy: Your site data remains on your server — only configuration and security rules are synced Google Services (safebrowsing.googleapis.com, www.google.com/recaptcha) * URL threat detection and reCAPTCHA spam protection * Privacy: https://policies.google.com/privacy WordPress.org APIs (api.wordpress.org, downloads.wordpress.org, core.svn.wordpress.org) * Download original files for integrity checking during malware scans * Privacy: https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/ GitHub (raw.githubusercontent.com) * Download WordPress core files for file comparison IP Lookup Services (api.ipify.org, ifconfig.me, icanhazip.com, ip-api.com, ipwhois.app, download.ip2location.com) * Server IP detection, geolocation, and country blocking features Threat Intelligence (api.urlvoid.com, www.virustotal.com, checkurl.phishtank.com) * URL reputation checking and threat validation Vulnerability Databases (services.nvd.nist.gov, wpscan.com, cvedetails.com, cve.mitre.org) * Check for known security vulnerabilities during scans All malware scanning happens on YOUR server. We do not upload your files or database content to external services.