Protector – Malware Removal, Firewall & Core Repair vs WP fail2ban – Advanced Security

Every day, thousands of WordPress sites are hacked. Most security plugins offer protection, but they come with a massive cost: they slow down your server with bloated features and complex settings. Protector is different. It is a lightweight, AI-ready security layer that turns your WordPress site into a digital fortress without compromising speed. Whether you are trying to recover a hacked site or proactively defend your business, Protector delivers enterprise-grade security that anyone can configure. With our new 1-Click Security Overview Dashboard, you can activate all recommended protections and block 98% of automated attacks in under 8 seconds. 📖 Read the Official Documentation here 🦠 Malware Threat Scanner & Auto-Repair Don’t just find malware; destroy it. Our deep, recursive local scanner verifies your WordPress integrity without crashing your server: * Core Integrity Verification: Cross-references all Core files against the official WordPress.org checksums. * Advanced Pattern Detection: Detects suspicious code patterns (like eval, base64_decode, shell_exec) hidden in your files. * 1-Click Auto-Repair: Found a modified core file? Click “Repair” and Protector will automatically fetch a clean, original version directly from the official WP SVN and overwrite the infected file. 🛡️ Login Fortress (Brute-Force Protection) Hackers relentlessly target the wp-login.php page. We make it disappear. * Secret Login URL: Hide wp-login.php completely. Any unauthorized attempt will be instantly redirected to a custom URL of your choice. * Smart Honeypots: Inject invisible fields into your login and comment forms to trap and block spam/brute-force bots automatically. * Block Username Scanning: Prevent attackers from discovering your admin usernames via ?author=1 enumeration. 🔒 1-Click Site Hardening Lock down common vulnerabilities instantly: * Security Headers: Protect against XSS, Clickjacking, and MIME-Sniffing attacks with a single toggle. * XML-RPC Control: Disable XML-RPC completely to eliminate one of the biggest brute-force attack vectors on WordPress. * Version Obfuscation: Hide your WordPress version from the source code so hackers can’t target known exploits. * Restrict REST API: Block public access to endpoints that expose sensitive user data. 📊 Live Attack Log Peace of mind you can actually see. Monitor every blocked attack, triggered honeypot, and deleted malware in real-time straight from your dashboard. 🚀 Upgrade to KloxStudios Pro Need absolute maximum power? Protector integrates seamlessly with the KloxStudios Cloud AI. Pro users unlock Cloud AI Malware Verification for 3rd-party plugins/themes, Automatic IP Lockouts, Instant Admin Login Alerts (Email & Webhook), and 2FA.

fail2ban is one of the simplest and most effective security measures you can implement to protect your WordPress site. WP fail2ban provides the link between WordPress and fail2ban: Oct 17 20:59:54 foobar wordpress(www.example.com)[1234]: Authentication failure for admin from 192.168.0.1 Oct 17 21:00:00 foobar wordpress(www.example.com)[2345]: Accepted password for admin from 192.168.0.1 WPf2b comes with three fail2ban filters: wordpress-hard.conf, wordpress-soft.conf, and wordpress-extra.conf. These are designed to allow a split between immediate banning (hard) and the traditional more graceful approach (soft), with extra rules for custom configurations. Features Failed Login Attempts The very first feature of WPf2b: logging failed login attempts so the IP can be banned. Just as useful today as it was then. Block User Enumeration One of the most common precursors to a password-guessing brute force attack is user enumeration. WPf2b can block it, stopping the attack before it starts. Block username logins Sometimes it’s not possible to block user enumeration (for example, if your theme provides Author profiles). WPf2b can require users to login with their email address instead of their username. Blocking Users Anther of the older WPf2b features: the login process can be aborted for specified usernames. Say a bot collected your site’s usernames before you blocked user enumeration. Once you’ve changed all the usernames, add the old ones to the list; anything using them will trigger a “hard” fail. Empty Username Login Attempts Some bots will try to login without a username; harmless, but annoying. These attempts are logged as a “soft” fail so the more persistent bots will be banned. Spam WPf2b will log a spammer’s IP address as a “hard” fail when their comment is marked as spam; the Premium version will also log the IP when Akismet discards “obvious” spam. Attempted Comments Some spam bots try to comment on everything, even things that aren’t there. WPf2b detects these and logs them as a “hard” fail. Pingbacks Pingbacks are a great feature, but they can be abused to attack the rest of the WWW. Rather than disable them completely, WPf2b effectively rate-limits potential attackers by logging the IP address as a “soft” fail. Block XML‑RPC Requests [Premium] The only reason most sites need XML‑RPC (other than Pingbacks) is for Jetpack; WPf2b Premium can block XML‑RPC while allowing Jetpack and/or Pingbacks. Block Countries [Premium] Sometimes you just need a bigger hammer – if you’re seeing nothing but attacks from some countries, block them! Cloudflare and Proxy Servers WPf2b will work with Cloudflare, and the Premium version will automatically update the list of Cloudflare IP addresses. You can also configure your own list of trusted proxies. syslog Dashboard Widget Ever wondered what’s being logged? The dashboard widget shows the last 5 messages; the Premium version keeps a full history to help you analyse and prevent attacks. Site Health Check WPf2b will (try to) check that your fail2ban configuration is sane and that the filters are up to date; out-of-date filters are the primary cause of WPf2b not working as well as it can. When did you last run the Site Health tool? mu-plugins Support WPf2b can easily be configured as a “must-use plugin” – see Configuration. API to Extend WPf2b If your plugin can detect behaviour which should be blocked, why reinvent the wheel? Event Hooks [Premium] Need to do something special when WPf2b detects a particular event? There’s a hook for that. Premium Web Application Firewall (WAF) Akismet support. Block XML‑RPC while allowing Jetpack and/or Pingbacks. Block Countries. Auto-update Cloudflare IPs. Event log. Event hooks.