Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) vs Smart Auto Upload Images – Import External Images

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!

Smart Auto Upload Images automatically imports external images from your post content into your WordPress media library. When you save or update a post, the plugin detects any external image URLs, downloads them to your server, and replaces the original URLs with your hosted versions. This improves site performance, ensures image availability, and gives you complete control over your content. Why Auto Upload Images to Your Media Library? When you copy content from external sources or use remote images, you risk broken images when the original source removes them. Hosting images on your own server provides several benefits: Better SEO performance – Search engines favor self-hosted images Faster page load times – Eliminates external HTTP requests Full content control – Images remain available even if sources go offline How Auto Upload Images Works The plugin runs automatically whenever you save or update a post. Here’s the process: Scans post content for external image URLs (any image not hosted on your domain) Downloads each external image to a temporary location Validates image file integrity and format Uploads valid images to your WordPress media library Replaces original external URLs with new local URLs Attaches imported images to your post in the media library No manual intervention required. Just write your content and let the plugin handle the rest. Key Features Automatic External Image Detection The plugin automatically identifies external images in your post content when you save. It distinguishes between local images (already hosted on your site) and external images that need importing. Smart URL Replacement After importing images, the plugin intelligently replaces all instances of the external URL with your new local URL. This works with images in: Post content (Classic Editor and Gutenberg blocks) Image galleries Featured images Media Library Integration All imported images are added to your WordPress media library with proper metadata. You can: Edit images using WordPress image editor View which post each image is attached to Set custom alt text during import Apply your site’s image optimization settings Flexible Domain Exclusions Exclude specific domains from auto-import. Useful for: CDN-hosted images you want to keep external Partner websites where you have permission to hotlink Your own secondary domains Social media embeds you want to keep as external Custom Post Type Control Choose which post types trigger auto-upload. Enable for: Posts and pages (default) WooCommerce products Custom portfolio post types Documentation posts Or disable for specific types you want to skip Advanced File Naming Patterns Set custom file naming patterns for imported images using dynamic tags: %filename% – Original filename %post_title% – Current post title %post_id% – Post ID %image_title% – Image title attribute %date% – Current date %time% – Current timestamp Example: %post_title%-%filename% becomes my-blog-post-example-image.jpg Custom Alt Text Patterns Define alt text patterns for better SEO: %post_title% – Use post title in alt text %filename% – Use filename as alt text Custom text – Set consistent alt text across imports Image Size Constraints Set maximum width and height for imported images to: Control storage usage Maintain consistent image sizes Automatically resize oversized images Prevent huge images from slowing your site Featured Image from URL Set a post’s featured image using an external URL. The plugin will: Download the image from the URL Import it to your media library Set it as the post’s featured image Work via REST API or post editor How to Import External Images from Posts Install and activate Auto Upload Images Go to Settings → Auto Upload Images Configure your preferences (or use defaults) Create or edit any post with external images Click Save or Update – images import automatically Check your Media Library to see imported images How to Exclude Specific Domains If you want to prevent images from certain domains from being imported: Go to Settings → Auto Upload Images Find the “Excluded Domains” section Enter domains one per line (e.g., cdn.example.com) Save settings Images from excluded domains will be left as external URLs How to Set Custom File Names for Imported Images Navigate to Settings → Auto Upload Images Find “File Name Pattern” setting Enter your pattern using available tags: Example: %post_title%-%filename% Example: imported-%date%-%filename% Save settings New imports will use your naming pattern This helps organize your media library and improves SEO with descriptive file names. How to Set Featured Image via URL Using the Post Editor: Edit your post Find the Featured Image section in the sidebar Enter the external image URL in the “Set from URL” field The image imports automatically and sets as featured image Integration with Page Builders Auto Upload Images works with popular page builders: Gutenberg Block Editor All images in Gutenberg blocks are automatically detected and imported when you save the post. Classic Editor External images in Classic Editor content are imported on post save. WooCommerce Enable auto-import for Product post type to automatically import external product images. Custom Post Types Configure any custom post type to trigger auto-import functionality. Just ensure Auto Upload Images is active when running imports. Performance and Storage Considerations Server Storage Imported images consume server storage. Monitor your hosting plan’s disk space if importing large quantities of images. Import Speed Import time depends on: * Image file sizes * Your server’s download speed * Number of images per post * Configured maximum dimensions Optimization Tips Set maximum width/height to reduce storage Use an image optimization plugin after import Exclude domains hosting very large images Test with small batches before bulk imports Developer Features Filter: smart_aui_validate_image_url Programmatically control which image URLs get imported. add_filter( 'smart_aui_validate_image_url', function( $is_valid, $url ) { // Skip images from specific paths if ( strpos( $url, '/cdn/avatars/' ) !== false ) { return false; } return $is_valid; }, 10, 2 ); Additional Hooks Check plugin documentation for additional filters and actions to customize behavior. Troubleshooting Images Not Importing Problem: External images remain unchanged after saving post Solutions: * Check if domain is in excluded domains list * Verify your server can make external HTTP requests * Check WordPress debug log for errors * Ensure PHP has necessary image processing libraries * Verify write permissions on uploads directory Import Errors in Debug Log Problem: Seeing errors in wp-content/debug.log Solutions: * Check image URL is publicly accessible * Verify image format is supported (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP) * Ensure external server allows download/hotlinking * Check SSL certificate validity if using HTTPS images Images Upload but URLs Not Replaced Problem: Images added to media library but old URLs remain Solutions: * Clear any caching plugins * Check post content in Text/HTML mode * Verify images aren’t in excluded domain list * Review file naming pattern doesn’t cause conflicts Duplicate Images in Media Library Problem: Same image imported multiple times Solutions: * Plugin should detect and reuse existing images (v1.2.0+) * Check if images have different URLs but same file * Clear media library of duplicates and re-save post Featured Image Not Setting from URL Problem: Featured image URL not importing Solutions: * Verify URL is publicly accessible * Check image format is supported * Ensure PHP memory limit is sufficient * Review error logs for specific error messages Maximum Width/Height Not Applied Problem: Images exceed configured dimensions Solutions: * Ensure GD or ImageMagick is installed on server * Check PHP memory limit allows image processing * Verify dimensions are set in plugin settings * Test with smaller images first