Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection vs DiveWP – Boost Site Performance with Clear, Actionable Steps

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.

Compatibility: Requires WordPress 6.0 or later. Tested through WordPress 7.0 (full support on WordPress 7). Abilities API / MCP features need WordPress 6.9+ (included in WordPress 7); all other DiveWP features run on the minimum version. 📋 System Logs Central place to read and understand errors without opening raw log files. The System Logs screen merges WordPress debug.log, WooCommerce file logs, and the WooCommerce fatal error log (when present), with severity labels (fatal, error, warning, notice, info) and grouping by source (plugin, theme, WooCommerce, or core). What you get: * Latest — newest entries across all readable sources, with adjustable “show last” limits (50–500) * By Source — cards per source with severity counts; drill into entries for one source * WP Debug Log — focused view of wp-content/debug.log (when readable) * WooCommerce Logs — log files from WooCommerce’s log handler * Fatal Errors Log — WooCommerce fatal error log when available * Logs Access Help — guidance when logs are missing or not readable (permissions, host-managed paths) * Entry details — modal with full message/stack context and copy for support * Abilities API: divewp/system-logs — same views for AI assistants via MCP (latest, by source, per-source entries, filters, help status) 🔌 NEW: Plugins Management Monitor and manage all installed plugins from one place. DiveWP’s Plugins Management feature shows every plugin with active/inactive status, update availability, and “Up to date” state. View details and changelog from WordPress.org, and activate or deactivate plugins without leaving the dashboard. Plugins Management & Abilities API: Use the divewp/plugins-management ability so AI assistants can list plugins, fetch description and changelog for a plugin, or activate/deactivate a plugin by file path. What Plugins Management Delivers: * Unified plugin list – All installed plugins with status pills (Active, Inactive, Update Available, Up to date) * Dashboard overview – Green and red pill counts on the main dashboard for quick health overview * Details drawer – Overview, full description, and changelog from WordPress.org * Toggle activation – Activate or deactivate plugins from the card or drawer * Search – Filter plugins by name, author, or description * Abilities API – Operations: list (all plugins), details (wp.org info for one plugin), toggle (activate/deactivate) 🤖 NEW: AI Capabilities & WordPress Abilities API Talk to your WordPress site through AI! DiveWP integrates with the WordPress Abilities API and Model Context Protocol (MCP), so AI tools like Cursor, Claude, and ChatGPT can query your site’s health and diagnostics directly—no copy-paste needed. WordPress Abilities API & MCP: * 12 Diagnostic Abilities – Server insights, cron monitoring, plugins management, database health, security audits, system logs (debug/WooCommerce/fatal), and more via the Abilities API * Zero Copy-Paste – AI agents run diagnostics through MCP without manual log sharing * Secure Authentication – WordPress Application Passwords for safe, controlled access * Step-by-Step Setup – “AI Capabilities” tab guides you through 3-step configuration for Abilities API and MCP clients Available Abilities: * divewp/server-insights – Full server health & config check * divewp/cron-insights – Monitor WP-Cron and Action Scheduler; background tasks & overdue jobs * divewp/db-insights – Database size & optimization status * divewp/security-insights – Vulnerability & configuration audit * divewp/performance-checks – Caching & optimization discovery * divewp/theme-builder-insights – Theme and page builder health * divewp/woocommerce-best-practices – WooCommerce optimization * divewp/seo-optimization – SEO configuration audit * divewp/email-communications – Email delivery & SMTP status * divewp/hosting-benchmark-latest – Latest benchmark results * divewp/plugins-management – List installed plugins, fetch wp.org details/changelog, or toggle plugin activation (operations: list, details, toggle) * divewp/system-logs – WordPress debug log, WooCommerce logs, fatal error log; views: latest, by source, filters, help status ⏰ NEW: Cron Job Manager & WP-Cron Monitoring Take control of WordPress cron jobs and scheduled tasks. DiveWP’s Cron Job Manager gives you a clear view of WP-Cron and Action Scheduler so you can spot overdue jobs, slow hooks, and misconfigured cron setups. Cron Jobs & Abilities API: Use the divewp/cron-insights ability so AI assistants can inspect your cron status, overdue tasks, and recommendations without opening the admin. What the Cron Job Manager Delivers: * Real-time cron monitoring – WP-Cron and Action Scheduler in one dashboard * Hook performance – Execution time and memory per cron hook * Overdue & orphan detection – Find stuck or orphaned scheduled tasks * Execution history – Filterable, paginated cron run history * Health guidance – System health and cron configuration tips 🚀 Hosting Performance Benchmark – Know If You Need to Upgrade! Measure how your hosting handles your WordPress site! DiveWP’s comprehensive Hosting Performance Benchmark is a powerful enterprise-grade testing system that evaluates your hosting environment through real-world performance tests. What It Tests: * Database Performance – Tests INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE operations, datetime functions, and aggregate operations (8 comprehensive tests) * Server Resources – Evaluates CPU, memory, I/O, and network capabilities (5 resource tests) * Concurrency Handling – Measures how your hosting performs under multiple simultaneous requests (4 concurrency tests) * E-commerce Performance – Tests WooCommerce-like operations including price calculations, shipping, and inventory checks (3 performance tests) Key Benefits: * 20+ Individual Tests – Comprehensive evaluation across 4 major categories * Real-World Simulation – Tests simulate actual WordPress operations, not synthetic benchmarks * 6-Minute Complete Analysis – Get detailed insights in approximately 6 minutes * Actionable Results – Understand if your current hosting is sufficient or if you need to upgrade * Cross-Database Compatible – Works with MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and SQL Server * Optimized for Shared Hosting – Designed to work efficiently even on shared hosting environments Perfect For: * Site owners wondering if their hosting plan is sufficient * Users experiencing slow performance and wanting to identify bottlenecks * Anyone considering upgrading their hosting plan * Developers evaluating hosting performance for client sites 🎯 Transform Your WP Journey Discover your site’s true potential by understanding exactly what’s happening under the hood. DiveWP provides clear insights about Performance, Security, and Best Practices – all explained in plain English. Take control of your digital presence by learning as you optimize! 🔍 Key Features 🔌 NEW: Plugins Management * Unified list of all installed plugins with status (Active, Inactive, Update Available, Up to date) * Dashboard counts green (up to date) and red (updates available) pills for quick overview * Details drawer with overview, WordPress.org description, and changelog * Toggle plugin activation from card or drawer; search by name, author, or description * Abilities API: divewp/plugins-management (list, details, toggle) for AI-assisted plugin management ⏰ NEW: Cron Job Manager & WP-Cron Monitoring * Real-time WP-Cron and Action Scheduler tracking * Monitor hook performance and execution time * Detect orphaned and overdue tasks * Identify problematic cron hooks affecting performance * Complete execution history with filtering and pagination * Integrates with Abilities API via divewp/cron-insights for AI-assisted cron diagnostics 🤖 NEW: AI Capabilities & WordPress Abilities API * WordPress Abilities API and MCP let AI assistants query your site for diagnostics * 12 abilities for server, cron jobs, plugins, security, database, performance insights, and system logs * Works with Cursor, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, and other MCP clients * Secure access via WordPress Application Passwords * Step-by-step setup guide in “AI Capabilities” tab 🚀 Hosting Performance Benchmark * Comprehensive hosting evaluation with 20+ real-world performance tests * Database, resource, concurrency, and e-commerce performance analysis * Determine if your hosting plan is sufficient for your site * Cross-database compatibility (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server) * Optimized for shared hosting environments Deep Site Insights * Understand your site inside out * Comprehensive analysis of core functions * Database health monitoring * User activity tracking * Everything explained in plain English ⚡ Performance & Speed * Clear performance insights * Actionable optimization steps * Speed improvement recommendations * Learn what affects your site’s performance 🛡️ Security & Best Practices * Proactive security checks * Easy-to-follow hardening recommendations * Learn WordPress security best practices * Implement as you learn 📊 Database Health * Optimize database performance * Clear insights into tables and structure * Cleanup recommendations * Learn database management without being a tech expert 🎯 SEO & Visibility * Practical SEO recommendations * Essential optimization techniques * Improve search engine rankings * Learn while implementing 🛍️ WooCommerce Optimization * Specialized store insights * Performance optimization * Checkout process analysis * Shopping experience improvements 📧 Email System Monitor * Detailed logging and diagnostics * Track email system performance * Ensure reliable communication * Monitor delivery status 🎨 Theme & Builder Analysis * Theme performance insights * Page builder optimization * Visual elements analysis * Speed optimization guidance 💡 How It Works Install & Scan: Quick installation and automatic site analysis Get Clear Insights: Receive easy-to-understand explanations Learn Best Practices: Understand WordPress through your own site Implement Changes: Follow actionable recommendations Monitor Progress: Track improvements and keep learning 🎯 Perfect For WordPress Beginners: Finally understand what’s happening on your site Store Owners: Optimize WooCommerce performance and boost sales Agency Teams: Maintain multiple sites while learning best practices Content Creators: Improve site visibility while mastering WordPress 🌟 What’s New in 2.3.0 NEW: Plugins Management New “Plugins Management” feature: view all installed plugins with status pills (Active, Inactive, Update Available, Up to date) Dashboard overview counts green (up to date) and red (updates available) pills alongside other feature statuses Details drawer with overview, full description, and changelog from WordPress.org Activate/deactivate plugins from the card or drawer; search by name, author, or description NEW: Abilities API – divewp/plugins-management Operations: list (all plugins with status), details (wp.org description and changelog for one plugin), toggle (activate/deactivate by plugin file) AI assistants can list plugins, fetch plugin info, or change activation state via MCP 🌟 What’s New in 2.2.0 NEW: AI Capabilities & WordPress Abilities API New “AI Capabilities” tab with step-by-step setup guide 10 diagnostic abilities for AI agents (server, cron jobs, database, security, performance, and more) Support for Cursor, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT via Model Context Protocol (MCP) Secure access using WordPress Application Passwords NEW: Cron Job Manager & WP-Cron Monitoring Full cron jobs dashboard: WP-Cron and Action Scheduler in one place Hook performance, overdue and orphan detection, execution history Abilities API integration: divewp/cron-insights for AI-driven cron diagnostics NEW: REST API Access Logging in User Events Track API access via Application Passwords in the event log Monitor AI agent activity and external integrations Throttled logging to prevent flood from MCP bursts IMPROVED: Cron Jobs Feature Enhancements Aligned AJAX and server health calculations for consistent status display “Potential orphan” terminology for clearer task identification Added Alternate Cron explanation footnote Visual accent pills for Important/Recommendation notes in task modals Support Need help? We’re here for you! 📚 Documentation 💬 Support Forum 🐞 Bug Reports and Contact Privacy DiveWP respects your privacy and that of your users. We do not collect any personal data. All analysis is performed locally on your server. Credits DiveWP is proudly created and maintained by Oleg Petrov.