GuardGiant brute force protection

<p>The only plugin with 100% brute force protection that doesn’t lock out genuine users.</p>
<h4>Brute Force Protection</h4>
<p>This security plugin implements an approach used by large websites such as Facebook, Google etc.</p>
<p>When a genuine user makes a successful login to their account using their mobile phone, tablet, or computer GuardGiant starts treating their device as Trusted.</p>
<ul>
<li>Failed login attempts from trusted devices are directed towards ‘Lost Password’ forms rather than being subject to account lockouts or additional counter measures.</li>
<li>Users receive an alert when anyone logs into their account from an unrecognized device or browser.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Stop Hackers</h4>
<p>GuardGiant uses a range of strong counter-measures to limit login attempts from unrecognized devices. The default behaviour is:</p>
<ul>
<li>After 3 failed login attempts from the same unrecognized device, a Google ReCaptcha field is added to the login page. ReCaptcha is a strong counter-measure that is very hard for an automated process to solve.</li>
<li>After 10 failed login attempts a temporary block of 2 minutes is applied to the device/IP address. No login attempts can be made during this time.</li>
<li>Each further failed login attempt increases the block time by another minute. This slows down attacks to the point where they quickly become unviable.</li>
</ul>
<p>All behavior is fully customizable to achieve the level of brute force protection that you require.</p>
<h4>Login History</h4>
<p>A fully featured security log gives you visibility to login attempts on your site.</p>
<ul>
<li>Provides geographic location, device type, IP address and more for each login attempt.</li>
<li>Filter login attempts by Trusted or Unrecognized devices.</li>
<li>Search by IP address or username.</li>
<li>Filter by successful or failed attempts.</li>
<li>Easy to display successful logins from unrecognized devices that could indicate a hacked account.</li>
</ul>
<p>This login history  log should form an essential part of your brute force login protection plan. GDPR compliant.</p>
<h4>Other Login Security Improvements</h4>
<p>This security plugin implements various improvements recommended by the Open Web Application Security Project® (OWASP) to keep your site safe:</p>
<ul>
<li>Obfuscates login errors to stop hackers detecting valid account names.</li>
<li>Option to disable XMLRPC.</li>
<li>And much, much more.</li>
</ul>
<p>This security plugin is exceptionally easy to use no matter what your level of technical expertise.</p>
<p>The default settings are highly optimized, designed to prevent brute force attacks whilst not disturbing genuine users from logging in. Advanced users can fully customize the behavior of this plugin to suit their own environment.</p>
<h4>Login Security Plugin – Background Information</h4>
<p>The most common threat that WordPress site owners face is a password guessing attack known as a brute force attack.<br />
A brute force attack is where an attacker uses a brute force tool (or script) to discover your password by systematically trying every possible combination of letters, numbers, and symbols until the correct password is found. A brute force attack will always work eventually, but the problem for the brute force attacker is that it may take many years to do it.</p>
<p>Brute force prevention techniques focus on slowing down these attacks to the point where they become unviable.</p>
<p>Using long and complex passwords (that are not dictionary words) is a good brute force attack prevention method to start with. This greatly increases the time an attacker will need.</p>
<p>A common way to stop brute force attacks is to lock out the WordPress account after a defined number of failed authorization attempts (there are various brute force plugins that do this).<br />
The problem with this approach is that the site administrator ends up with unhappy users who have been locked out, often needing manual intervention to regain access. This is not sustainable or desirable for sites of any size.</p>
<p>The modern approach to brute force prevention is to track the devices that genuine users use to log in, ensuring they are always treated kindly if they forget their password. Unrecognized devices face a progressive but temporary timed lockout.</p>
<h4>Stop Brute Force Attacks</h4>
<p>Periodic monitoring of your security audit log can help you stop brute force attacks.</p>
<p>Here are patterns that indicate a brute force attack or some other account abuse:</p>
<ul>
<li>Failed login attempts using alphabetically sequential usernames or passwords</li>
<li>Multiple different usernames being used by the same IP address</li>
<li>Logins for a single account coming from many different IP addresses</li>
<li>Failed logins at a specific period e.g. every 5 minutes</li>
</ul>


WordPress Brute Force Protection – Stop Brute Force Attacks

The only plugin with 100% brute force protection that doesn't lock out genuine users.

Paul

Shield Security

<p>Most security plugins hand you a dashboard full of alerts and expect you to know what to do next. Shield works differently.</p>
<p>It blocks threats automatically, repairs what it can on its own, and then <strong>shows you exactly what still needs your attention</strong> — ranked by impact, not volume. Less noise. More action.</p>
<h4>🤖 Security That Runs Itself</h4>
<p>The most powerful thing Shield does is what it handles without you:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Automatic IP Blocking</strong> — every visitor is quietly scored as they interact with your site. Failed logins, firewall blocks, silentCAPTCHA failures, and other signals accumulate into a reputation score. When a visitor’s score crosses the threshold, Shield blocks them — automatically, without you lifting a finger</li>
<li><strong>Automatic File Repair</strong> — when a file integrity scan finds a changed WordPress core file, Shield pulls the original from WordPress.org and restores it. Detected and fixed, without waiting for you to act</li>
<li><strong>Automatic Bot Recognition</strong> — Shield identifies legitimate crawlers (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Apple) and known services (ManageWP, Pingdom, Stripe, CloudFlare) and never blocks them. Your SEO and monitoring tools keep working</li>
</ul>
<h4>🧭 Guided Security, Not Just a Dashboard</h4>
<p>Shield organises your security into four focused areas so you always know where to look:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Queue</strong> — things that need your attention, ranked by priority. Not everything at once — just what matters right now</li>
<li><strong>Investigate</strong> — dig into blocked IPs, security events, and the specific signals that triggered each one</li>
<li><strong>Configure</strong> — guided setup for each protection area, with clear recommendations matched to your site</li>
<li><strong>Reports</strong> — a clear view of what Shield has blocked, detected, and repaired over time</li>
</ul>
<p>The goal: guide you quickly towards action, not bury you in data.</p>
<h4>🛡️ Free Protection</h4>
<p><strong>Bot Blocking & Firewall</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><code>silentCAPTCHA</code></strong> — blocks bad bots on login, registration, lost password, and comment forms using passive signals invisible to real visitors. No CAPTCHA keys. No external requests. No JavaScript that breaks your forms. Everything runs on your server (GDPR friendly).</li>
<li>Firewall rules blocking common WordPress attack patterns — SQL injection probes, known exploit signatures, suspicious request parameters</li>
<li>XML-RPC protection — disable or restrict entirely, including pingbacks and trackbacks</li>
<li>REST API firewall — block unauthenticated requests</li>
<li>Fake crawler detection — identifies bots spoofing legitimate search engines</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Login & Account Security</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Two-factor authentication (2FA)</strong> — email codes, Google Authenticator, or YubiKey OTP for all users</li>
<li>Brute force protection with configurable login attempt limits and cooldown</li>
<li>Session locking — tie sessions to a browser or IP to stop account theft after a successful login</li>
<li>User enumeration blocking — closes off <code>?author=</code> probes used to harvest usernames before an attack</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Scanning & Integrity</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Core file scanning</strong> — compares WordPress core against official checksums and repairs changed files automatically</li>
<li>Suspicious PHP detection — flags PHP files in locations where they have no business being</li>
<li>Abandoned plugin detection — identifies unmaintained plugins most likely to carry unpatched vulnerabilities</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Visibility & Control</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Security Admin PIN</strong> — lock Shield’s own settings so other administrators cannot quietly weaken your configuration</li>
<li>Security activity log — logins, user changes, plugin and theme events, post edits, and suspicious requests: Everything in one clear view</li>
<li>IP Rules — automatic & manual block and bypass rules, CIDR range support, full per-IP request history</li>
</ul>
<h4>🤝 CrowdSec Integration</h4>
<p>Shield is the only WordPress security plugin with a native CrowdSec integration. CrowdSec aggregates threat signals from millions of sites into a shared IP reputation network — your site blocks known attackers before they ever probe you, using intelligence far beyond your own traffic history.</p>
<h4>✨ ShieldPRO</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>Passkeys</strong> — phishing-resistant, passwordless login for users</li>
<li><strong>Backup login codes</strong> — emergency 2FA access when a device is lost</li>
<li><strong>AI-based malware scanner</strong> — detects known and unknown PHP malware</li>
<li><strong>Plugin & theme file scanning</strong> — compares installed files against WordPress.org originals, flagging unauthorised changes</li>
<li><strong>Vulnerability scanning</strong> — active checks across all installed plugins and themes</li>
<li><strong>Broader spam protection</strong> — WooCommerce, EDD, Contact Form 7, Ninja Forms, Elementor, and more</li>
<li><strong>Traffic rate limiting</strong> — cap request rates per IP to absorb high-volume bot floods</li>
<li><strong>User suspension</strong> — manual or automatic suspension of idle accounts</li>
<li><strong>MainWP integration</strong></li>
<li><strong>White Label</strong> — rename and rebrand Shield for client sites</li>
</ul>
<h4>Who It’s For</h4>
<p>Shield suits site owners, agencies, and MSPs who want protection that runs itself — not a plugin that demands constant attention to be useful.</p>
<p>If you have been burned by security plugins that generate more noise than protection, or dashboards that tell you everything is wrong without telling you what to fix, Shield was built to be the alternative.</p>


Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning

Smart WordPress security that blocks bots automatically, guides you to what matters, and repairs problems — without drowning you in noise.

WordPress Brute Force Protection – Stop Brute Force Attacks vs Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning