5 best plugins to secure and protect your WordPress site with all security features

If you are thinking of creating your own site 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, you need solid protection systems that ensure that no intruders penetrate the site, and there are many ways that can be done from In order to protect user data and secure your site in general, one of these ways is to use WordPress security plugins.

Whether you run a blog, forum, or 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 big role in attracting visitors and customers and dealing with you, and in this article we will highlight the best security plugins on the WordPress platform that will ensure You have a high level of security 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, it is a very dangerous and sensitive matter that should not be underestimated at all.

Of course, when you start your own site, the site and user data will be few and may not attract any attempt to hack or external theft, but when we take your first steps in publicizing 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 address any hacking attempt, Because any successful hacking or stealing of your site data could mean a big disaster for you and your project.

Several statistics indicated that more than 18 million hacking operations occur per week for different sites, whether those operating on the WordPress platform or other sites, and that more than 40 attempts to hack each site occur daily! This raises the following question: How will I protect my site in light of these fierce and continuous attacks?

The solution is simple by providing certified security tools for your site, and as we mentioned, WordPress security plugins will be sufficient and adequate for this task.

Is hacking my site really a disaster? What happens if a hacker gains access to your location data? Well at best and if you’re very lucky one or all of the following could happen:

Loss of part or all of the site’s data, or the inability to access partly or even completely to the site’s control panel

User or customer data, including financial balance or private data, such as passwords and financial data, is at risk of being stolen

Damage to some important parts of the site that may harm the reputation of the site or the brand, in addition to the significant decline in the “SEO” evaluation of the site in search engines.

A huge waste 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 easy at all

It is clear that the damage that may occur to your site is very large, so it makes sense to arm yourself with a high level of security to protect your site, your reputation and your users from those risks, and it is worth saying that the hosting sites that host your site with an annual or monthly subscription offer special protection tools for your site, but they are not It is sufficient and will not fully protect you, and the task of securing your site rests with you.

 

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Best WordPress Security Plugins

Below we will provide you with a list of the best WordPress security plugins with the features, advantages and disadvantages of each, so that you will have the opportunity to choose the one that suits you best.

1.Sucuri 

Sucuri is one of the best and most popular security plugins on the WordPress platform, with more than 800,000 active users today. The company provides a free and paid add-on, and the free add-on offers a good level of security with the ability to detect any vulnerabilities or security risks in the site.

While the paid versions of the plugin offer a high level of security, many owners of popular websites rate this plugin as the best security plugin on the WordPress platform in terms of the solid firewall it provides for the site.

Features and characteristics

The extension guarantees a limited free version but offers good security

Firewall is one of the most powerful and best protection tools ever

Refine and filter malicious and malicious data before it reaches your web server or hosting company

Paid hosting includes a content delivery network (CDN ), which guarantees the integrity of your site data on the hosting site in the event of any malfunction or hacking of your site.

Increase and speed up the performance of the site in general using the “Content Delivery Network” included in the extension

Possibility to repair and process corrupt data and previous vulnerabilities without any additional cost 

Easy to install and adjust settings

The ability to conduct a comprehensive site survey to detect and remove any malware

Track all activity on the site, including modified files, login history, and failed login attempts, which could be an indication that someone is trying to hack the site

The add-on has a high price, starting at $199.99 per year, and the process of scanning and conducting a comprehensive site survey may take a long time.

Cost: The annual subscription cost of Sucuri add to the basic plan starts at $199.99, here is a professional subscription plan with a value of $299.99 annually, and finally the subscription for companies and large sites, which includes the highest level of security and its cost is $499.99 annually.

 

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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 special features it provides, in addition to the Wordfence add-on with most of the basic settings for free, and there is a paid version as well.

Wordfence provides an advanced scanning tool to detect site intrusions and vulnerabilities. The extension performs an automatic survey of your site, and you can, however, conduct a survey of the entire site at any time you want, and the extension sends dangerous notifications if there is or even suspected of any dangerous activity or attempted hacking of the site, with steps to address and counter those attempts.

The plugin also includes a special firewall, but it’s not as powerful as the one that Sucuri provides, but it’s still enough to protect the site from most hacks.

Features and characteristics

All basic functions are free, and the user can upgrade the security level and purchase the paid version

The ability to monitor visits and hacking attempts in real time, with a comprehensive report on the location of the person or entity trying to hack, their IP address, the time the person tried to hack the site and the length of time it took to try.

Inform the user of an attempt to hack the site administration password, and the attempts that the hacker guessed, with suggestions on how to strengthen your password

Addressing large hacking attempts, limiting the number of failed password attempts before blocking the person trying to enter

Cons of the addition

The extension is stored on your hosting site instead of in the cloud as in other extensions, and this may slow down your site loading speed a little

The extension performs an automatic site scan but does not include a malware removal tool if present, but the extension informs you of these vulnerabilities and removes them manually yourself

The firewall and security codes are updated every month, which could pose a risk to the site if new malware tries to break into the site before the next firewall update

There is only a support forum for questions and inquiries, and there is no direct contact 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 paid version costs $99 per year per site.

Read also: 6 best add-ons for taking backups of your site

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3.iThemes Security Pro

iThemes Security Pro is a popular WordPress security plugin as well, with more than a million active users of the plugin. The developer of BackupBuddy is one of the popular WordPress backup plugins , and it has a simple and easy to use interactive interface.

This add-on includes basic security elements, including user identity checks, access control, password fortification of the site, 404 error detection, and protection against major hacking attempts.

This add-on does not include a special self-firewall as in the previous two additions.

Features and characteristics

Two-factor authentication, meaning an additional level of security for the site

A special tool for hardening user passwords

Minor Plugins Testing on WordPress and 404 Error Detection

Schedule site backups and ensure files are protected during the copy process

Block users’ IP when it is detected that they are trying to find security holes in the site

Sending email notifications in case the extension detects any suspicious upload or modification to the site data 

Ability to limit the number of attempts to set the password 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 in addition, but the addition depends on the scanning system of the Securi add-on.

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4. Jetpack 

Another premium Jetpack add -on is climbing up the list of popular add-ons, with over 5 million active users of the add-on. The plugin includes most of the features of the popular Sucuri and Wordfence plugins such as a firewall that protects website data on hosting sites.

The extension includes a free version that provides basic security tools, such as blocking large hacking attempts, but you will need to upgrade to the paid version if you want to get satisfactory security, and enable automatic backup and filtering of 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 front level comparable to Sucuri and Wordfence.

Features and characteristics

Providing a complete log-in log for the website, detailing all log-in operations and attempts to the website, with a specific time

Send alert notifications via e-mail 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 version of WordPress as well

Providing a firewall, this means that any suspicious attempt to enter or manipulate the site data will stop immediately after it reaches the hosting server of your site.

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 slow down some processes on the WordPress site, including the process of installing other plugins

 

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5. All In One WP Security & Firewall plugin 

All In One WP Security is the latest addition on our list, and a popular add-on, with more than 900,000 active users. It is characterized as a powerful and professional protection addition, which provides the ability to monitor and manage all operations on the site, while providing a solid firewall to prevent any intrusion attempts, and it is completely free.

This add-on also provides the feature of blocking suspicious logins, blocking suspicious IP addresses (IP filtering), and an administration panel to monitor the activities of users and visitors, and detect any suspicious input data to the site server.

Although the firewall that provides the extension is good and prevents many suspicious activities, there are many methods of penetration that may bypass this wall, however, the extension sends you a notification of suspicious activities and provides you with the possibility of knowing the IP of the user responsible for those the activities.

Features and characteristics

Possibility to conduct a site scan to detect malware

Having an IP filter that allows you to block any suspicious user or even the IP of a specific geographic area

Block suspicious users Show blocked users in Want to unblock any user you want.

Website password booster

Same site firewall

You can manually block and unblock any user at the same time

The add-on is completely free

The disadvantage of the extension is that the firewall provided by the extension is good, but it is less efficient than the firewall of the hosting server provided by the add-on, for example Securi.

Conclusion

Protecting your site data is one of the essential things that you should pay great attention to, and complacency 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 WordPress security plugins that we mentioned.

And if you want a high level of security, you can buy one of the paid versions, in the end, a small amount that you pay annually, which may save you a lot of effort and time in fixing gaps and addressing security attacks that may be catastrophic on your site