AVAR Server Monitor vs Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection

AVAR Server Monitor is a privacy-first WordPress health dashboard, uptime monitor, server diagnostics and security insight toolkit built directly into wp-admin. It helps WordPress administrators understand whether their site is technically healthy, available, secure and running on a reliable server environment — without requiring an external SaaS account. Instead of showing scattered technical data across multiple places, AVAR Server Monitor brings the most important signals into one clear dashboard: uptime, SSL status, PHP and database health, server resources, WP-Cron, security checks, activity log, 404 monitoring, diagnostic exports, database maintenance and more. Know what is wrong before visitors notice WordPress sites often break quietly. A cron task stops running. An SSL certificate gets close to expiration. The database grows. Debug errors are exposed. A plugin update changes something important. A server starts running out of memory. A backup directory may be exposed. A WooCommerce store accumulates technical clutter. AVAR Server Monitor helps you spot these problems early and decide what needs attention first. Site Health Score The main dashboard includes a 0–100 Site Health Score that summarizes the technical condition of your WordPress site. The score is based on weighted categories: Core & Updates Server Environment Security Posture Reliability & Monitoring Performance & Storage The score is not just a decorative number. It includes top issues, recommendations, action links and severity caps for critical problems. For example, if a monitored domain is down, an SSL certificate has expired or a snapshot directory is publicly accessible, the score is capped so the site does not appear healthier than it really is. Monitoring and diagnostics in one place AVAR Server Monitor includes practical tools for everyday WordPress administration: Uptime monitoring for one or more domains. SSL certificate checks and expiration warnings. WP-Cron monitor with overdue event detection. Server resource overview with CPU, memory, disk and database information. WordPress environment overview with versions, plugins, themes and updates. Health Advisor for PHP, database, extensions, cache and connectivity checks. Security audit for HTTPS, debug exposure, file editor status, readme.html, REST API, XML-RPC and login hardening. Core file integrity scan against official WordPress.org checksums. Activity Log for important plugin, theme, update, user and login events. 404 monitor for frequently requested missing URLs. Email alerts for downtime, version changes, resource thresholds and summaries. Diagnostic snapshots for troubleshooting and support. Safe Client Health Report for communicating technical status to clients or hosting support. Database cleanup preview with risk labels, impact descriptions and confirmation flow. Maintenance mode with preview, countdown and role-based bypass. Login security and access control AVAR Server Monitor includes a built-in login security layer, so you can harden wp-admin without adding a separate plugin: Two-factor authentication (2FA) with an authenticator app (TOTP — Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy and others) and/or one-time codes by email, with the method chosen at login when both are enabled. Includes QR-code setup, one-time backup codes, a “require 2FA by role” policy and an optional “remember this browser” duration. Brute-force protection with escalating lockouts, an IP allowlist and blocklist (CIDR and wildcard support) and manual block/unblock of active lockouts. A persistent, paginated login attempt log with per-IP statistics: failed attempts, incidents, lockouts and successful sign-ins, plus top attacking IPs and most-targeted usernames. A login CAPTCHA on the login, registration and lost-password forms — a privacy-first self-hosted math question with honeypot by default, or optional Cloudflare Turnstile, Google reCAPTCHA v2 or hCaptcha with your own keys. An optional custom login URL that serves the login page from a secret slug and returns 404 for the default wp-login.php. These features run locally and require no external account; CAPTCHA providers are contacted only if you explicitly choose one. Privacy-first approach AVAR Server Monitor is not an external monitoring SaaS platform. Most features run locally inside your WordPress installation. The plugin does not require an AVAR cloud account and does not send local health reports, diagnostic snapshots or server data to AVAR servers. Some features may connect to public external services only when needed, such as the WordPress.org API for checksums and version information, or geolocation providers for server location lookup. Built for safety Because monitoring and diagnostics can touch sensitive areas, AVAR Server Monitor includes a dedicated Advanced Tools safety model. Higher-risk tools are locked by default and require explicit activation. Advanced Tools include features such as: Diagnostic snapshots. Full phpinfo(). wp-config.php debug switches. Cron run/unschedule actions. Database cleanup. Table optimization. Force HTTPS. HSTS. Selected exports and filesystem operations. Sensitive actions use capability checks, nonces, confirmations, safety warnings and safer defaults where appropriate. Safer HTTPS and HSTS handling Force HTTPS and HSTS are not simple checkboxes. They are enabled through protected safety flows with pre-flight checks, host validation and typed confirmation for HSTS includeSubDomains. This reduces the risk of locking yourself out of the site or accidentally applying strict HSTS rules to subdomains that are not ready for HTTPS. Database cleanup with preview Database cleanup can be useful, but it should never feel like a blind “delete everything” button. AVAR Server Monitor analyzes cleanup candidates first and shows what can be removed, the risk level and the likely impact. Riskier actions require typed confirmation. Revision cleanup supports retention rules. WooCommerce content in Trash is detected and order-like records are excluded unless explicitly selected. The plugin uses WordPress APIs where appropriate, such as when deleting posts and comments, so other plugins and WordPress hooks can respond correctly. Diagnostic snapshots Diagnostic snapshots are designed for troubleshooting, support and quick technical review. They use private storage by default when possible, long random archive names, self-healing protection files, public-access checks and safer file exclusions. Snapshots are a diagnostic aid, not a replacement for a full disaster recovery backup strategy. For complete recovery protection, use hosting-level backups or a dedicated backup plugin. Who is AVAR Server Monitor for? AVAR Server Monitor is useful for: WordPress administrators who want a clear technical overview. Freelancers maintaining client websites. Small agencies managing business sites. WooCommerce store owners who want to catch technical risks early. Website owners who want monitoring without an external SaaS account. Developers who need quick diagnostics inside wp-admin. Support teams that need safe technical reports from clients. What makes it different? Many tools focus on only one area: uptime, backups, security, debugging, logs or server information. AVAR Server Monitor focuses on the practical day-to-day question most WordPress administrators have: “Is this site technically healthy, and what should I check first?” It combines health scoring, monitoring, security checks, cron visibility, diagnostics, reports and safer maintenance tools into one privacy-first WordPress dashboard. Typical use cases Use AVAR Server Monitor to: Check whether your site is currently healthy. Monitor uptime and SSL status. See if WP-Cron is running correctly. Review PHP, database and server environment health. Detect security configuration issues. Track important plugin/theme/update activity. Find repeated 404 requests. Export a safe client or support report. Review database cleanup candidates before deleting anything. Create a diagnostic snapshot for troubleshooting. Understand which issues deserve attention first. Important note AVAR Server Monitor provides monitoring, diagnostics and safety-focused maintenance tools. Some Advanced Tools can change configuration, delete data or access sensitive diagnostic information. Read warnings carefully, keep regular backups and test higher-risk actions on staging sites whenever possible. External services AVAR Server Monitor may connect to external services only for specific features: WordPress.org API — used for WordPress core checksums, plugin/theme information and version-related checks. Geolocation provider APIs — used when server location lookup is enabled or requested. The monitored site URLs — used by the uptime monitor to check availability of configured domains. CAPTCHA providers (only if you choose one) — Cloudflare Turnstile, Google reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha receive the challenge token and visitor IP to verify a login/registration attempt. The default self-hosted math + honeypot CAPTCHA uses no external service. The plugin does not require an AVAR cloud account and does not send diagnostic snapshots or local health reports to AVAR servers.

Reduce your WordPress website’s risk to nearly zero with Kadence Security Formerly iThemes Security. Looking for iThemes? Learn more here. On average, 30,000 websites are hacked every day.* Cyberattacks in the US increased by 57% in 2022.** Bad actors who want to hack your site, steal your data, and cripple your business are a 24/7/365 threat. You need a proactive, strategic approach to WordPress website security that protects your site from brute force attacks, malware infections, and other cyber threats. Kadence Security shields your site from cyberattacks and prevents security vulnerabilities. It automatically locks out bad users identified by our Brute Force Protection Network that is nearly 1 million sites strong and leverages your own blacklist. It secures and protects your most commonly attacked part of your WordPress website – user login authentication. With Patchstack integration (Pro) protects your site before you even have a chance to address vulnerabilities and before a plugin or theme vendor or developer can even issue a patch. That’s 24/7/365 always-on truly Kadence Security. 🌐 Secure your Website in Minutes The Kadence Security setup and onboarding experience allows anyone to secure their WordPress website in under 10 minutes, regardless of technical acumen. Knowing that you have enabled all the right security settings for your website will leave you feeling like your site has never been more secure. 📚 Security Site Templates to Fit Your Type of Site Enabling the correct security settings based on the type of website you are building or maintaining is essential for proper security. An eCommerce site requires a different level of security than a basic blog. Kadence Security Site Templates make it quick and easy to apply the right security settings for your website. Choose from six different site templates to apply the type of security your site needs: Ecommerce – websites that sell products or services Network – websites that connect people or communities Non-Profit – websites that promote your cause and collect donations Blog – websites that share your thoughts or start a conversation Portfolio – websites that showcase your craft Brochure – simple websites that promote your business ⌚ Real-Time Website Security Dashboard Every day, lots of activity is happening on your website that you can’t see. Many of these activities can be related to your site’s security, so monitoring these events is vital to keeping your site secure. The Kadence Security Pro plugin provides a real-time WordPress security dashboard that monitors security-related events on your site around the clock. The Kadence Security Dashboard is a dynamic dashboard with all your WordPress website’s security activity stats in one place, including brute force attacks, banned users, active lockouts, site scan results, and user security stats (Pro). 🗝️ WordPress Login Security Setting up and maintaining proper WordPress configurations and managing user account access are essential aspects of hardening your site against threats and vulnerabilities. Basic and Pro include features that address both of these factors. Two Factor Authentication (2FA) – Make your WordPress login nearly impenetrable to attack by requiring users to enter a security code along with a password to login. The Kadence Security plugin allows you to add two-factor authentication to your WordPress login with several authentication methods, including mobile apps like Authy and Google Authenticator, email, and backup codes. Password Requirements – Create and enforce a password policy for your users in less than a minute. reCAPTCHA (Pro) – Stop bad bots from engaging in abusive activities on your website, such as attempting to break into your website using compromised passwords, posting spam, or even scraping your content. Passwordless Logins (Pro) – WordPress security made easy. Secure your user accounts with 2fa & strong passwords while allowing real users login with a click of a mouse. Trusted Devices (Pro) – Identify the devices you and other users use to block session hijacking attacks and limit Administrator privileges to Trusted Devices. Automated Vulnerability Patching (Pro) – Kadence Security Pro includes Patchstack which patches vulnerabilities before you have a chance to and applies fixes even before a plugin developer or vendor has issued a patch. Learn more about how passwordless login is the future and how Kadence Security can help you implement it today. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The Right Amount of Security for Every User Level Different types of user levels require different levels of security. During the Kadence Security setup process, you can identify your website’s key user groups. Once the different types of users are identified, you can apply the level of security that is just right for each user group. Here are a couple of examples of how User Groups are useful for securing your site: For Clients – Let’s say you are configuring Kadence Security on a client’s website. You will decide whether or not they are required to use two-factor authentication and if they should have access to the Kadence Security settings. For Customers – If you have an eCommerce website, you will decide whether or not you want to protect customer accounts with a password policy. Privilege Escalation (Pro) also adds a safe, secure way to grant temporary admin-level access to your website. 🤖 Block Bad Bots & Ban User Agents with Lockouts Ban Users (Basic and Pro) – Permanently block repeat offenders from accessing your site. Local Brute Force Protection – Automatically identify and stop the most common method of attack on WordPress sites. Local Brute Force Protection (Basic and Pro) – Automatically identify and stop the most common method of attack on WordPress sites. Network Brute Force Protection (Basic and Pro) – The network is the Kadence Security community and is nearly one million websites strong. If someone tries to break into websites in the Kadence Security community, Kadence Security will block them across the network. Magic Links (Pro) – Security shouldn’t get in your way. Magic Links allow you to log in to your WordPress site while your username is locked out by the Kadence Security Local Brute Force Protection feature. 🔍 Monitor Your Site’s Security Health File Change Detection (Basic and Pro) – Kadence Security logs changes made to your website that can help detect malicious activity on your website. Site Scanner (Basic and Pro) – Schedule checks to run four times per day (Basic) or hourly (Pro) for known vulnerabilities of WordPress core file, plugins and themes. Using the Google Safe Browsing API, the Site Scan also checks your Google’s blocklist status and will alert you if Google has found any malware on your website. Patchstack integration (Pro) – Automated virtual patching of some vulnerabilities before you even have a chance to address them yourself, and before a plugin or theme vendor or developer can even issue a patch. Site Scanner (Pro) – Unlock Version Management to automatically apply a patch to vulnerable software detected by the Site Scan when one is available. User Logging (Pro) – Keep a record of user activity in your WordPress security logs, including login/logout, user registration, adding/removing plugins, switching themes, changes to posts and pages, and more. Version Management (Pro) – The Version Management feature in Kadence Security Pro allows you to auto-update WordPress, plugins, and themes. Beyond that, Version Management also has options to harden your website when you are running outdated software and scan for old websites. 🧠 Smarter, More Actionable Vulnerability Prioritization Not all vulnerabilities pose the same level of risk, and the traditional Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score doesn’t always reflect the realities of running a WordPress site. Kadence Security now uses the Patchstack Priority score, which goes beyond CVSS to provide a real-world risk assessment tailored to WordPress. It factors in how likely a vulnerability is to be exploited and its actual impact on your site. With Patchstack Priority, you get a clearer picture of what really matters, helping you focus on the vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk, and worry less about noise from low-impact issues. 🛠️ Website Security Utilities Enforce SSL – Force all connections to the website to be made over SSL/TLS. Database Backups – Create backups of your WordPress database. (Not a complete backup.) Geolocation (Pro) – Improve Trusted Devices by connecting to an external location or mapping API. 🚀 Advanced Security Tools Identify Server IPs – Prevent issues caused by inadvertently locking out your server IPs. Change User ID 1 – Change the user ID for the first WordPress user, potentially preventing attacks that assume the user with ID1 exists and is an administrator. Change Database Prefix – Change the database prefix that WordPress uses, potentially preventing attacks that assume the database prefix is “wp_”. Check File Permission – See the file and directory permissions of key areas of your site. Server Config Rules – View or flush the server security rules generated by Kadence Security. wp-config.php Rules – View or flush the wp-config.php security rules generated by Kadence Security. Change WordPress Salts – Secure your site after a successful attack by changing the WordPress salts used to secure cookies and security tokens. Hide Login URL – change the login URL of your site, making it harder for bots to find your login page and attack it. 🛟 Need Help? Free support may be available with the community’s help in the WordPress.org support forums. Our Kadence Security support team provides top-notch technical support to all our Kadence Security Basic users there. Our Help Center will help you become an iThemes Security expert. Get additional peace of mind with professional support from our expert team and pro features to take your site’s security to the next level with Kadence Security Pro. Recover From a Hacked Site Kadence Security makes regular backups of your WordPress database, allowing you to get back online quickly in the event of a hack or security breach. Use Kadence Security to create and email database backups on a customizable schedule. For complete site backups and the ability to restore or move WordPress to a new host or domain, check out Solid Backups. Solid Central Integration Manage more than one WordPress site? Release lockouts and keep your themes, plugins, and WordPress core up to date from one dashboard with Solid Central. *Zippia. “30 Crucial Cybersecurity Statistics [2023]: Data, Trends And More” Zippia.com. Jun. 15, 2023, https://www.zippia.com/advice/cybersecurity-statistics/ **https://blog.checkpoint.com/2023/01/05/38-increase-in-2022-global-cyberattacks/ License Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.