Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) vs SiteFort Security – Malware Scanner, Firewall, Login Security & Hardening

Easily improve site security with WordPress Hardening, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Login Protection, Vulnerability Detection and SSL certificate. Really simple, Effective and Performant WordPress Security Really Simple Security is the most lightweight and easy-to-use security plugin for WordPress. It secures your WordPress website with SSL certificate generation, including proper 301 https redirection and SSL enforcement, scanning for possible vulnerabilities, Login Protection and implementing essential WordPress hardening features. We believe that security should have the absolute minimum effect on website performance, user experience and maintainability. Therefore, Really Simple Security is: Lightweight: Every security feature is developed with a modular approach and with performance in mind. Disabled features won’t load any redundant code. Easy-to-use: 1-minute configuration with short onboarding setup. Security Features Easy SSL Migration Migrates your website to HTTPS and enforces SSL in just one click. 301 redirect via PHP or .htaccess Secure cookies Let’s Encrypt: Install an SSL Certificate if your hosting provider supports manual installation. Server Health Check: Your server configuration is every bit as important for your website security. WordPress Hardening Tweak your configuration and keep WordPress fortified and safe by tackling potential weaknesses. Prevent code execution in the uploads folder Prevent login feedback and disable user enumeration Disable XML-RPC Disable directory browsing Username restrictions (block ‘admin’ and public names) and much more.. Vulnerability Detection Get notified when plugins, themes or WP core contain vulnerabilities and need appropriate action. Login Protection Allow or enforce Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for specific user roles. Users receive a two-factor code via Email. Improve Security with Really Simple Security Pro Protect your site with all essential security features by upgrading to Really Simple Security Pro. Advanced SSL enforcement Mixed Content Scan & Fixer. Detect files that are requested over HTTP and fix them to HTTPS, both Front- and Back-end. Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security and configure your site for the HSTS Preload list. Firewall Really Simple Security Pro includes a performant and efficient WordPress firewall, to stop bots, crawlers and bad actors with IP and username blocks. 404 blocking – Blocks crawlers as they trigger unusual numbers of 404 errors. Region blocking – Only allow/block access to your site from specific regions. Automated and customisable Firewall rules. IP blocklist and allowlist. Security Headers Security headers protect your site visitors against the risk of clickjacking, cross-site-forgery attacks, stealing login credentials and malware. Independent of your Server Configuration, works on Apache, LiteSpeed, NGINX, etc. Protect your website visitors with X-XSS Protection, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, a Referrer Policy and CORS headers. Automatically generate your WordPress-tailored Content Security Policy. Vulnerability Measures When a vulnerability is detected in a plugin, theme or WordPress core you will get notified accordingly. With Vulnerability Measures, you can configure simple but effective measures to make sure that a critical vulnerability won’t remain unattended. Force update: An update process will be tried multiple times until it can be assumed development of a theme or plugin is abandoned. You will be notified during these steps. Quarantine: When a plugin or theme can’t be updated to solve a vulnerability, Really Simple Security can quarantine the plugin. Advanced Site Hardening Choose a custom login URL Automated File Permissions check and fixer Rename and randomize your database prefix Change the debug.log file location to a non-public folder Disable application passwords Control admin creation Disable HTTP methods, reducing HTTP requests Login Protection Secure your website’s login process and user accounts with powerful security measures. Two-Step verification (Email login) 2FA (two factor authentication) with TOTP Passwordless login with passkey login Enforce strong passwords and frequent password change Limit Login Attempts With Limit Login Attempts you can configure a threshold to temporarily or permanently block IP addresses or (non-existing) usernames. You can also throw a CAPTCHA after a failed login (hCaptcha or Google reCaptcha) Access Control Restrict access to your site for specific regions. Add specific IP addresses or IP ranges to the Blocklist or Allowlist. Useful Links Documentation Security Definitions Translate Really Simple Security Issues & pull requests Feature requests Love Really Simple Security? If you want to support the continuing development of this plugin, please consider buying Really Simple Security Pro, which includes some excellent security features and premium support. About Really Simple Plugins Our mission is to make complex WordPress requirements really easy. Really Simple Security is developed by Really Simple Plugins. For generating SSL certificates, Really Simple Security uses the le acme2 PHP Let’s Encrypt client library, thanks to ‘fbett’ for providing it. Vulnerability Detection uses WP Vulnerability, an open-source initiative by Javier Casares. Want to join as a collaborator? We’re on GitHub as well!

SiteFort is a prevention-first WordPress security plugin that combines security hardening, firewall and bot protection, login security and 2FA, vulnerability scanning, and malware detection in one protection layer. It blocks common attack paths early, before they turn into compromises, while supported firewall rules can sync to Cloudflare for enforcement at the edge. SiteFort’s cloud-assisted malware scanner verifies trusted files by hash and sends only unknown or suspicious files for deep threat analysis, keeping scans reliable even on shared and lower-resource hosting. Security hardening, firewall protection, login security, 2FA, and vulnerability scanning are free forever. Try the Live Demo | Features | Try Online Scanner Core WordPress Security Features WordPress Security Hardening: Reduces common exposure through XML-RPC, user enumeration, sensitive files, direct PHP execution, REST access, security headers, and other WordPress security controls. Firewall & Bot Protection: Blocks vulnerability probes, abusive requests, malicious traffic, and unwanted automation with IP, country, rate limiting, and configurable bot controls. Supported rules can also sync to Cloudflare for edge enforcement. Login Security & 2FA: Protects WordPress login, WooCommerce customer accounts, and membership account access with two-factor authentication, CAPTCHA, brute-force lockouts, a custom login URL, breached-password checks, and password policies. Vulnerability Scanner: Checks WordPress core, plugins, and themes for known vulnerabilities, affected versions, severity, CVE references where available, and remediation guidance. Cloud-Assisted Malware Scanner: Detects backdoors, web shells, injected code, malicious redirects, SEO spam, and suspicious file changes, with deep threat analysis in the cloud to reduce server load. Compromise & Reputation Checks: Detects suspicious administrator accounts, injected content, unsafe URLs, exposed sensitive files, malicious redirects, and domain or server reputation issues. WordPress Security Hardening SiteFort provides simple, toggle-based WordPress hardening controls to reduce common security exposure and shrink the attack surface. Sensitive File Protection: Blocks public access to WordPress configuration backups, database dumps, debug logs, backup files, installer files, and other sensitive resources, including exposed .env or .git data when present. PHP Execution Protection: Blocks PHP execution in uploads and restricts direct access to PHP files in plugin and theme directories. XML-RPC Controls: Disable XML-RPC, restrict authentication, or block pingback abuse. User Enumeration Blocking: Reduces username exposure through author archives, REST endpoints, and common discovery paths. REST & Application Password Controls: Restricts REST API access and controls WordPress Application Passwords based on site requirements. File Editor Protection: Disables the built-in WordPress theme and plugin file editor. Directory Browsing Protection: Disables directory listing to reduce file discovery and unintended information exposure. Security Headers: Analyze and manage CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy, and disclosure headers. Version & Metadata Cleanup: Reduces exposed WordPress version, generator, and header information. Protection Verification: Confirms supported hardening protections are active and identifies items that require manual hosting or server configuration. WordPress Malware Scanner SiteFort combines hash-first file verification with cloud-assisted deep threat analysis to detect malware while reducing scan workload on the WordPress server. Hash-First File Verification: Known WordPress core, plugin, and theme files are verified against trusted hashes. Deep Threat Analysis: Files that cannot be verified by hash or show suspicious indicators are sent to the SiteFort cloud for deep threat analysis, including backdoors, web shells, injected PHP or JavaScript, malicious redirects, SEO spam, and obfuscated code. File Integrity: Detects modified WordPress core, plugin, and theme files, along with unexpected files that do not belong in trusted packages. Account & Content Checks: Checks administrator accounts, WordPress content, options, URLs, and redirects for suspicious changes and indicators of compromise. Sensitive File Exposure: Identifies publicly accessible backups, logs, configuration files, debug files, and other sensitive files commonly targeted by attackers. Domain & IP Reputation: Checks the site domain and server IP against supported blocklists and abuse intelligence. Database and content checks run on the protected site and are not uploaded to the SiteFort cloud. Login Security & 2FA SiteFort protects WordPress login and account access against brute-force attacks, credential abuse, and unauthorized access. Brute-Force & CAPTCHA Protection: Limits repeated login attempts and adds CAPTCHA protection to WordPress, WooCommerce, and supported custom login and registration forms. Two-Factor Authentication: Adds role-based 2FA with authenticator apps, email codes, recovery codes, grace periods, and trusted devices. WooCommerce & Membership 2FA: Lets customers and members manage 2FA from WooCommerce My Account or supported custom account pages. Custom Login URL: Move the WordPress login page to a private URL and control requests to the default wp-login.php address. Password Security: Detects weak and breached passwords, enforces password strength, prevents reuse, and supports optional expiration policies. WordPress Firewall SiteFort filters malicious and abusive traffic early, with clear controls for IPs, countries, rate limits, sensitive paths, bots, and optional Cloudflare edge enforcement. IP, CIDR & Country Rules: Block or allow individual IP addresses, CIDR ranges, and countries, including an allow-only mode. Sensitive Path Probe Protection: Blocks requests probing for commonly targeted sensitive paths, including WordPress configuration backups, database dumps, debug logs, installer files, .env, and .git. Rate Limiting & 404 Controls: Reduces abusive request bursts, repeated missing-page requests, and automated scanning activity. Bot & User-Agent Controls: Block or allow selected bots, crawlers, scanners, and user agents with configurable firewall rules. Community Threat Intelligence: Blocks known malicious IPs identified across the SiteFort network, helping stop repeat bad actors before they reach the site. Vulnerability Probe Protection: Blocks automated requests searching for vulnerable plugins, themes, backup files, and configuration leaks. Cloudflare Sync: Synchronizes supported IP, country, and user-agent rules to Cloudflare, with temporary edge blocks for repeat attackers where supported. Traffic Log: Review firewall traffic, blocked requests, bot activity, rate-limit events, and rule matches from the firewall dashboard. Bot Protection Policy SiteFort provides three bot protection presets for straightforward setup, with the option to allow or block specific bots and crawlers individually. Basic: Blocks known hacking tools and bots probing for vulnerable files and common attack paths. Balanced: Adds protection against scraping bots and automated scripts. Recommended for most WordPress sites. Maximum: Extends filtering to unrecognized bot traffic for sites that require stricter automation controls. AI Training Crawlers: Optionally block training-focused crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, and Bytespider while supported AI assistants and AI search crawlers remain allowed. Supported search crawlers are verified using reverse DNS and published IP ranges and are allowed through bot protection, while bots impersonating known search engines are detected and blocked. Vulnerability Scanner SiteFort checks installed WordPress core, plugins, and themes against vulnerability intelligence and identifies affected versions, severity, and available remediation. Affected Components: Identifies vulnerable WordPress core, plugins, and themes with installed versions, severity, and CVE references where available. Fix Guidance: Shows fixed versions and recommended actions when remediation information is available. Vulnerability Probe Protection: Firewall controls block automated discovery attempts targeting vulnerable plugins, themes, and known component paths while affected software is being updated, replaced, or removed. SiteFort does not virtually patch vulnerable code. Vulnerable components should be updated, replaced, or removed using the available remediation guidance. Malware Repair & Quarantine Delete or Quarantine (Free): Remove malicious or unwanted files from scan results, with optional quarantine for recovery when needed. One-Click Repair (Pro): Repairs malicious or modified files directly from scan results when a trusted clean source is available. Clean-File Restore (Pro): Restores supported WordPress core, plugin, and theme files, including selected commercial plugins and themes when verified clean sources are available. For active WordPress compromises requiring hands-on investigation, Securewp expert cleanup is available for malware removal, root-cause remediation, blocklist assistance, and post-cleanup review. WordPress Security Audit Log SiteFort records important security and administrative activity, providing a clear history for review and investigation. Login Activity: Successful and failed logins, lockouts, 2FA events, and account-related activity. User Changes: User creation, updates, role changes, and other account actions. Plugin & Theme Activity: Installations, activations, deactivations, updates, and other recorded changes. Security & Settings Changes: Hardening, login security, firewall configuration, and other sensitive administrative changes. SiteFort Console SiteFort Console provides a central panel for managing security across multiple WordPress sites. No separate add-on is required; Console connectivity can be enabled or disabled directly from the SiteFort plugin. Run security scans and review findings across sites. Monitor vulnerabilities and update hardening settings remotely. Review security status, scan history, uptime, and SSL expiry. Route alerts and download reports for individual sites or clients. Manage team access and support workflows from one place. All site-level security features remain available directly in WordPress; Console adds centralized management for multiple sites. Hosting Compatibility SiteFort supports shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting, VPS, and dedicated servers across Apache, Nginx, and LiteSpeed. Cloudflare: Works with Cloudflare-proxied sites and supports optional firewall rule sync for edge enforcement. Lower-Resource Hosting: Hash-first file verification and cloud-assisted deep analysis reduce scan workload on the hosting server. Flexible Server Support: Does not require a specific web server stack or managed hosting environment. Free vs Pro SiteFort Free includes security hardening, firewall and bot protection, login security and 2FA, vulnerability scanning, activity logging, and 3,000 monthly cloud scan credits. Pro removes the cloud analysis limit and adds automation, repair, monitoring, alerts, and reporting. SiteFort Pro adds: Unlimited deep threat analysis Scheduled malware scans and automated vulnerability alerts One-click malware repair and clean-file restore Uptime and SSL expiry monitoring Slack, Discord, email, and webhook alerts Remote scan history and detailed security reports White-label options for agencies Managed adds hands-on monitoring, incident response workflows, and expert cleanup coverage from the Securewp team. See the WordPress Security Plugin Comparison for a feature-by-feature comparison with other WordPress security plugins. External services SiteFort uses external services only for features that require them, including license activation, cloud-assisted malware analysis, vulnerability and firewall intelligence, reputation checks, optional Console sync, CAPTCHA, GeoIP, Cloudflare Sync, and administrator-configured notifications. Optional integrations are not contacted unless they are enabled or used. SiteFort Cloud Servers: securewp.net, intel.securewp.net, console.securewp.net Used for: License activation, service metadata, cloud malware analysis, vulnerability intelligence, firewall intelligence, reputation checks, community blocklist sync, clean-file repair, and optional Console sync. Data sent: Email address, license key or token, site URL, WordPress and plugin versions, installed plugin and theme names and versions, file hashes, scan results, vulnerability findings, reputation status, firewall metadata, blocked IP addresses, and security configuration metadata. Malware scanning: File hashes are sent first. Only unknown or suspicious files may be uploaded for deeper analysis and are deleted after processing. Database and content checks run on the protected site and are not uploaded to the SiteFort cloud. If wp-config.php requires analysis, sensitive configuration values are removed before upload. Temporary storage: SiteFort Cloud may return temporary *.amazonaws.com upload or download URLs for malware analysis or clean-file repair. Privacy: https://securewp.net/privacy-policy/ Terms: https://securewp.net/terms-and-conditions/ Storage provider policies: AWS privacy https://aws.amazon.com/privacy/ and terms https://aws.amazon.com/service-terms/; Cloudflare privacy https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/ and terms https://www.cloudflare.com/website-terms/ Optional integrations MaxMind GeoLite2 (download.maxmind.com): Used only when an administrator downloads or updates the local GeoIP database. The configured MaxMind account ID and license key are sent to MaxMind. Visitor IP addresses are resolved locally and are not sent to MaxMind during normal requests. Privacy: https://www.maxmind.com/en/privacy-policy Terms: https://www.maxmind.com/en/geolite2/eula Have I Been Pwned Passwords (api.pwnedpasswords.com): Used for breached-password checks when enabled. SiteFort sends only the first 5 characters of the SHA-1 password hash. Full passwords and full hashes are not sent. Privacy: https://haveibeenpwned.com/Privacy Terms: https://haveibeenpwned.com/TermsOfUse Google reCAPTCHA (www.google.com) and Cloudflare Turnstile (challenges.cloudflare.com): Used only when selected and configured for CAPTCHA protection. The selected provider receives the challenge token, site key, and visitor or browser data required to process the challenge. Policies: https://policies.google.com/privacy https://policies.google.com/terms https://www.cloudflare.com/turnstile-privacy-policy/ https://www.cloudflare.com/website-terms/ Cloudflare API (api.cloudflare.com): Used only when Cloudflare Sync is enabled. SiteFort sends the Zone ID, API token or credentials, zone details, blocked IP addresses, country rules, selected user-agent rules, and firewall rule data required for synchronization. Privacy: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/ Terms: https://www.cloudflare.com/website-terms/ Notification webhooks: Security alerts may be sent to Slack (hooks.slack.com), Discord (discord.com, discordapp.com), or a custom HTTPS webhook configured by the administrator. Payloads may include site name, site URL, event type, severity, scan counts, vulnerability names, CVE identifiers, firewall counts, usernames, IP addresses, browser names, action URLs, timestamps, and event details. Slack policies: https://slack.com/trust/privacy/privacy-policy https://slack.com/terms-of-service/user Discord policies: https://discord.com/privacy https://discord.com/terms Local site checks Some SiteFort checks send loopback requests to the protected site’s own public URL, including security-header checks, public-file exposure checks, and homepage link collection. These requests contact the protected site itself, not a third-party service.