Apocalypse Meow vs FreelanceBo Sentra Control

Apocalypse Meow’s main focus is addressing WordPress security issues related to user accounts and logins. This includes things like: Brute-force login-in protection; Customizable password strength requirements; XML-RPC access controls; Account access alerts; Searchable access logs (including failed login attempts and temporary bans); User enumeration prevention; Registration SPAM protection; Miscellaneous Core and template options to make targeted hacks more difficult; Anonymize/scrub leaky remote request headers; Security is an admittedly technical subject, but Apocalypse Meow strives to help educate “normal” users about the nature of common web attacks, mitigation techniques, etc. Every option contains detailed explanations and links to external resources with additional information. Knowledge is power! Requirements Due to the advanced nature of some of the plugin features, there are a few additional server requirements beyond what WordPress itself requires: WordPress 4.4+. PHP 7.4 or later. PHP extensions: (bcmath or gmp), date, filter, json, pcre. CREATE and DROP MySQL grants. Single-site Installs (i.e. Multi-Site is not supported). Please note: it is not safe to run WordPress atop a version of PHP that has reached its End of Life. Future releases of this plugin might, out of necessity, drop support for old, unmaintained versions of PHP. To ensure you continue to receive plugin updates, bug fixes, and new features, just make sure PHP is kept up-to-date. 🙂 Log Monitoring Some robots are so dumb they’ll continue trying to submit credentials even after the login form is replaced, wasting system resources and clogging up the log-in history table. One way to mitigate this is to use a server-side log-monitoring program like Fail2Ban or OSSEC to ban users via the firewall. Apocalypse Meow produces a 403 error when a banned user requests the login form. Your log-monitoring rule should therefore look for repeated 403 responses to wp-login.php. Additionally, some robots are unable to follow redirects; if your login form requires SSL, you should also ban repeated 301/302 responses to catch those fools. If you have enabled user enumeration protection with the die() option, requests for ?author=X will produce a 400 response code which can be similarly tracked. Privacy Policy When active, this plugin retains security logs of every sign-in attempt made to the CMS backend. This information — including the end user’s public IP address, username, and the status of his or her attempt — is used to help prevent unauthorized system access and maintain Quality of Service for all site visitors. This information resides fully on the hosting web site and is not shared with any third parties. Data retention is entirely up to the site operator, but by default old records are automatically removed after 90 days. Please note: Apocalypse Meow DOES NOT integrate with any WordPress GDPR “Personal Data” features. (Selective erasure of audit logs would undermine the security mechanisms provided by this plugin. Haha.)

FreelanceBo Sentra Control is a comprehensive WordPress security plugin that connects your site to the Sentra central console, providing enterprise-grade protection. Features Web Application Firewall (WAF) – Block malicious requests, SQL injection, XSS, and other common attacks Malware Scanner – Scan WordPress core files, themes, and plugins for known malware signatures Vulnerability Scanner – Check installed plugins and themes against known vulnerability databases Brute Force Protection – Limit login attempts and block attackers automatically File Integrity Monitoring – Detect unauthorized changes to WordPress core files IP Blocklist – Manage blocked IPs manually or automatically based on threat detection Security Events Log – Track all security events with detailed logging Central Console – Manage multiple WordPress sites from a single dashboard How It Works Install and activate the plugin on your WordPress site Connect to your Sentra central console by entering the server URL and API key in Settings The plugin automatically starts monitoring your site and reporting to the console View scan results, manage firewall rules, and review security events from either the WordPress admin panel or the central console Requirements WordPress 5.8 or higher PHP 7.4 or higher A Sentra central console account (available at freelancebo.it) External Services This plugin relies on the following external services: FreelanceBo Sentra Control Console This plugin connects to a self-hosted FreelanceBo Sentra Control central console for centralized security monitoring and management. This connection is essential for the plugin to function. What data is sent: * Site URL, WordPress version, PHP version, and installed plugins/themes list (during heartbeat and scans) * Security events (firewall blocks, failed login attempts, malware detections, file integrity changes) * Scan results (malware scan, vulnerability scan, integrity scan findings) When data is sent: * On plugin activation and periodically via heartbeat (every 5 minutes) * When security events occur (login attempts, firewall blocks) * When scans are triggered (manually or via scheduled cron) * When the admin manages firewall rules, blocklists, or settings Service provider: FreelanceBo Group S.r.l.s., Bologna, Italy * Service URL: https://sentra.freelancebo.it * Terms of Service: https://sentra.freelancebo.it/terms * Privacy Policy: https://sentra.freelancebo.it/privacy The console server URL is configurable by the user in the plugin settings. All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Data is stored on EU-based servers in compliance with GDPR. WordPress.org API The vulnerability scanner module uses the official WordPress.org API to retrieve information about installed plugins, themes, and WordPress core version. This is necessary to check for known vulnerabilities and outdated software. What data is sent: * Plugin slugs, theme slugs, and WordPress core version When data is sent: * When a vulnerability scan is triggered (manually or via scheduled cron) Service provider: WordPress.org * API endpoint: https://api.wordpress.org * Terms of Service: https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/ * Privacy Policy: https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/