you are thinking about creating your own website on the WordPress platform, or if you already own one and are thinking about how to protect your data and the data of your visitors or customers on the site, then you need strong protection systems that guarantee that no hackers will penetrate the site, and there are many ways that can be done: In order to protect user data and secure your site in general, one of these methods is to use security plugins in WordPress.
Whether you run a blog, a forum, or an online store, you need to protect the data on your site, and you should know that the standard of security and trust in your site plays a major role in attracting visitors and customers and dealing with you. In this article, we will highlight the best protection plugins on the WordPress platform that will ensure You have a high level of safety and protection.
Do you need security add-ons?
At this point you may be wondering; Do I really need to install a security plugin on my WordPress site? Is it really that dangerous? In fact, yes, the matter is very dangerous and sensitive and cannot be underestimated at all.
Of course, when you start your own website, the site and user data will be few and may not attract any external hacking or theft attempt, but when we take your first steps in advertising your site and attracting visitors and customers, you will be a legitimate target for hackers and thieves, and then you must be fully prepared to confront any hacking attempt. Because any attempted hacking or successful theft of your site data could mean a major disaster for you and your project.
Many statistics indicate that more than 18 million hacking attempts occur weekly on various sites, whether those operating on the WordPress platform or other sites, and more than 40 phishing attempts occur on a single site every day! This raises the following question: How will I protect my position in light of these fierce and continuous attacks?
The solution is simple by providing approved security tools for your site, and as we mentioned, WordPress security plugins will be sufficient and sufficient for this task.
Is it really a disaster if my site gets hacked? What will happen if a hacker succeeds in accessing your website data? Well, at best, and if you’re very lucky, one or all of the following might happen:
- Loss of part or all of the site’s data, or the inability to partially or even completely access the site’s control panel
- User or customer data, including balance or private data, such as passwords and financial data, is at risk of being stolen
- Some important parts of the site have been damaged, which may harm the reputation of the site or the brand, in addition to a significant decline in the site’s “SEO” rating in search engines.
- A huge loss of time, effort and money in order to repair the damaged parts of the site in the event of a hack. Restoring the site to what it was before the hack is not an easy matter at all.
It is clear that the damage that may occur in the best case scenario to your site is very large, so it makes sense to arm yourself with a high level of security in order to protect your site, your reputation, and your users from these risks. It is worth saying that the hosting sites that host your site with an annual or monthly subscription provide special protection tools for your site, but they are not They are sufficient and will not fully protect you, and the task of securing your site falls on your shoulders.
Read also: Secure and protect WordPress websites from all vulnerabilities | Comprehensive guide
The best security plugins for WordPress
Below we will present to you a list of the best security plugins on the WordPress platform, with the features, advantages, and disadvantages of each, so that you have the opportunity to choose what suits you best.
1. Juices
The Sucuri plugin is one of the best and most popular security plugins on the WordPress platform, with more than 800,000 active users at present. The company provides a free and paid add-on, and the free add-on provides a good level of security with the ability to detect any vulnerabilities or security risks on the site.
While the paid versions of the add-on offer a high level of security, many popular website owners evaluate this add-on as the best protection add-on on the WordPress platform in terms of the solid firewall it provides to the site.
Features and characteristics
- The extension includes a limited free version but offers good security
- The firewall is one of the most powerful and best protection tools ever
- Filtering malicious and malicious data before it reaches your server or hosting company
- Paid hosting includes a content delivery network (CDN) , which guarantees you the complete safety of your site data on the hosting site in the event of any malfunction or hacking of your site.
- Increase and accelerate the overall performance of the site by using the “Content Delivery Network” included in the add-on
- The ability to repair and treat damaged data and previous vulnerabilities without any additional cost
- Easy to install and adjust settings
- The ability to conduct a comprehensive scan of the site to detect the presence of any malware and remove it
- Track all activity on the site, including files that have been modified, login history, and failed login attempts, which may be an indication that someone is trying to hack the site
- The add-on is expensive, starting from $199.99 annually, and the process of inspecting and conducting a comprehensive survey of the site may take a long time.
Cost: The cost of the annual subscription to add Sucuri to the basic plan starts at $199.99, here is a professional subscription plan worth $299.99 annually, and finally the subscription for companies and large sites, which includes the highest level of security and its cost reaches $499.99 annually.
Read also: The comprehensive guide to explain the Sucuri add-on
2. Wordfence
This Wordfence add-on is also a popular add-on, with more than 4 million active users, due to the settings, tools, and distinctive features it offers. In addition, the Wordfence add-on with most basic settings is free, and there is a paid version as well.
The Wordfence plugin provides an advanced scanning tool to detect site intrusions and security vulnerabilities. The add-on automatically scans your site. However, you can scan the entire site at any time you want. The add-on sends danger notifications in the event of the presence or even suspicion of any dangerous activity or attempt to hack the site, with steps to address and counter those attempts.
The add-on also includes a special firewall, but it is not as strong as the one provided by the Sucuri add-on, but it is nonetheless sufficient to protect the site from most hacking cases.
Features and characteristics
- All basic functions are free, and the user can upgrade the security level by purchasing the paid version
- The ability to monitor visits and hacking attempts in real time, providing a comprehensive report on the location of the person or party trying to hack, his IP address, the time the person attempted to hack the site, and the length of time he attempted.
- Informing the user of an attempt to hack the site administration password, and the attempts that the hacker guessed, while giving suggestions on how to strengthen your password.
- Countering major hacking attempts, by limiting the number of failed attempts to enter the password before blocking the person trying to enter
Cons of the addition
- The add-on is stored on your hosting site instead of being stored in the cloud like other add-ons, and this may slow down the loading speed of your site slightly.
- The extension automatically scans the site, but does not include a malware removal tool if it exists. Rather, the extension informs you of these vulnerabilities and removes them manually.
- The firewall and security codes are updated every month, and this may pose a risk to the site if new malware tries to penetrate the site before the next firewall update.
- There is only a support forum for asking questions and inquiries, and there is no direct communication with the support team
Cost: Adding Wordfence with basic settings is completely free, and you can upgrade to the paid version to increase the level of security. The cost of the paid version is $99 annually for one site.
Read also: A comprehensive explanation of Wordfence Security
3.iThemes Security Pro
iThemes Security Pro is also a popular security plugin for WordPress, with more than a million active users. The party responsible for its development is the same party that developed the BackupBuddy add-on, one of the famous add-ons for backing up WordPress sites , and it is characterized by a simple and easy-to-use interactive interface.
This addition includes basic protection elements, including user identity tests, controlling the number of login attempts, strengthening website passwords, detecting 404 errors, and protecting against major hacking attempts.
This add-on does not include a special self-firewall as in the previous two add-ons.
Features and characteristics
- Two-factor authentication, which means an additional level of security for the site
- A special tool to strengthen user passwords
- Testing secondary plugins on a WordPress website and detecting 404 errors
- Schedule site backup times and ensure files are protected during the backup process
- Blocking users’ IP when their attempts to find security vulnerabilities on the site are detected
- Sending email notifications if the add-on detects any suspicious upload or modification of site data
- The ability to limit the number of password attempts for users
- The disadvantage of the add-on is that it does not contain a firewall, and there is no special scanning and detection system for the add-on. Rather, the add-on relies on the scanning system for the Securi add-on.
4. Jetpack
Another premium Jetpack plugin that climbs the list of popular plugins, with over 5 million active plugin users. The plugin includes most of the features of the popular Sucuri and Wordfence plugins, such as a firewall that protects site data on hosting sites.
The add-on includes a free version that provides basic protection tools, such as preventing major hacking attempts, but you will need to upgrade to the paid version if you want to obtain a satisfactory level of security, and provide the ability to backup and automatically filter vulnerabilities and malware on the site.
In addition to the free version and the paid personal version, the add-on also includes the advanced professional version, which offers a high level of visibility comparable to the Sucuri and Wordfence add-ons.
Features and characteristics
- Providing a complete login log to the site, detailing all login processes and attempts to the site, specifying their time
- Sending alert notifications via email in the event of any error or attempt to hack the site
- Comprehensive protection against all major hacking attempts
- Automatically update all plugins running on your WordPress site, alerting you if there is a new WordPress version as well
- Providing a firewall, this means that any suspicious attempt to enter or manipulate site data will stop immediately after it reaches your site’s hosting server.
- The disadvantage of the plugin is that you need to upgrade to the paid version in order to get the real benefit of the plugin, as well as slowing down some operations on the WordPress site, including the process of installing other plugins.
Read also: An explanation of the Jetpack add-on to secure and protect your site and many functions
5. All In One WP Security & Firewall plugin
All In One WP Security is the last plugin on our list, and it’s a popular plugin, with over 900,000 active users. It is characterized as a strong and professional protection addition that provides the ability to monitor and manage all operations on the site, while providing a solid firewall to prevent any hacking attempts, and it is also completely free.
This add-on also provides the feature of blocking suspicious logins, blocking suspicious IP addresses (IP address filtering), and an administration panel to monitor the activities of users and visitors, and detect any suspicious data entered into the site server.
Although the firewall that the add-on provides is good and prevents many suspicious activities, there are many hacking methods that may bypass this wall. However, the add-on sends you a notification of the presence of suspicious activities and provides you with the possibility of observing the IP of the user responsible for that activity. the activities.
Features and characteristics
- The ability to scan the site to detect malware
- Having an IP filter allows you to block any suspicious user or even block the IP of a specific geographical area.
- Block suspicious users while showing users who have been blocked in You want to unblock any user you want.
- A website password strengthening tool
- A site-specific firewall
- You can manually block and unblock any user at the same time
- The add-on is completely free
- The disadvantage of the add-on is that the firewall provided by the add-on is good, but it is less efficient than the firewall of the hosting server provided by the Securi add-on, for example.
Conclusion
Protecting your site’s data is one of the essential matters that you must pay great attention to, and negligence in the security aspect of your site may cost you a lot, so do not hesitate at all to adopt one of the free versions of the security plugins available in WordPress that we mentioned.
If you want a high level of security, you can purchase one of the paid versions. In the end, a small amount that you pay annually may save you a lot of effort and time in fixing vulnerabilities and confronting security attacks that could be disastrous to your site
