October 29, 2012

WordPress Plugins A to Z Security Edition

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe to WPPlugins A to Z on Email | RSS

WordPress Plugins from A to Z Episode #92

It’s episode #92 and we’re presenting a special WordPress Security episode, focusing on protecting your site and keeping your installations safe and secure with special guest Robert Vance from Eagle Advanced Programming.
With Special Guest Robert Vance https://eagleapi.com/

WordPress Plugins A-Z Podcast Can also be found at WPPluginsAtoZ.com
WordPress Plugins A-Z Podcast can be found on Stitcher Radio Click here to Download app or listen online Now.
WordPress Plugins A-Z Podcast Find us on the iTunes Store here.

>>>Self Promotion of our businesses here<<<

Do you need WordPress Emergency WordPress support for issues you know when you see the ever favorite White Screen of Death. Or just some questions on how to do something please visit WPPro.ca/emergency for some quick tips or request some help.

Marcus is now available for phone consultations at https://marcuscouch.com/call. If you need help with WordPress, Podcasting, SEO or general Internet Marketing help, the new Clarity.fm platform is an easy way to schedule and pay for a consulting phone call.
>>>Self Promotion of our businesses<<<

WordPress Plugins Reviewed by John

Wordfence Security 3.3.7

Version: 3.3.7

Author: Mark Maunder

Last Updated: 4 days ago

Requires WordPress Version: 3.3.1 or higher

Compatible up to: 3.4.2

Downloaded: 136,817 times

WordPress.org Plugin Page »

Plugin Homepage »

The Lowdown:
Well in my opinion on this plugins and I have covered it in the past but I have found it to be very useful in finding issues and helping to keep a site clean. Once installed and configured you can set it to block all access when someone tried to login with an invalid username and to stop access after simply trying to use the recover password form. You can also throttle usage when someone or a bot access the site too fast. It also will examine the plugins and theme and compare them to the files at the wordpress repository. It emails you when issues are found or if someone logs in.

Rating 5 Dragons

WordPress File Monitor Plus 2.2

Version: 2.2

Author: Scott Cariss

Last Updated: 134 days ago

Requires WordPress Version: 3.1 or higher

Compatible up to: 3.4.2

Downloaded: 30,237 times

WordPress.org Plugin Page »

Plugin Homepage »

the lowdown:
Ok this is a simple plugin but excellent at what it does and has help me alot this past week. It monitors all your files and tells you when a file changes or if a file is removed or if a new one is added. You can set it to ignore things if you need to but on the whole it does a great job of notifying you of changes. I was able to stop hacker in their tracks when I got notification of file changes.
Rating 5 Dragons

WordPress Plugins Reviewed by Marcus

Bulletproof Security
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bulletproof-security/

Requires: 3.0 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.5
Last Updated: 2012-10-22
Downloads: 364,720

WordPress Website Security Protection: BulletProof Security protects your WordPress website against XSS, RFI, CRLF, CSRF, Base64, Code Injection and SQL Injection hacking attempts. One-click .htaccess WordPress security protection. Protects wp-config.php, bb-config.php, php.ini, php5.ini, install.php and readme.html with .htaccess security protection. One-click Website Maintenance Mode (HTTP 503). Additional website security checks: DB errors off, file and folder permissions check… System Info: PHP, MySQL, OS, Server, Memory Usage, IP, SAPI, DNS, Max Upload… Built-in .htaccess file editing, uploading and downloading.

Marcus’ Take: I’ve used this on my client sites in the past with great success. It not only checks the sites for the usual nuisances, but has diagnostic and htaccess editing capabilities as well.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Anti-Virus
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/antivirus/

Requires: 2.8 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.5
Last Updated: 2012-9-6
Downloads: 361,469

Scan & Notify

AntiVirus for WordPress is a easy and safe tool to protect your blog install against exploits, malware and spam injections. Scan your templates now!

Features

Virus alert in the admin bar

Cleaning up after plugin removal

Translations into many languages

Daily scan with email notifications

Database tables and theme templates checks

WordPress 3.x ready: both visually and technically

Whitelist solution: Mark suspected cases as “no virus”

Manual check of template files with alerts on suspected cases

Marcus’ Take: This is another great security plugin that I have used that is similar functionality, but what I really liked was the daily scan with email notifications, just letting me know that all is safe (or not) with my installations.

Rating: 4 out of 5
———————–