obsyde

Obsyde Aegis protects your WordPress site with enterprise-grade security monitoring. The plugin intercepts every request, checks it against known attack signatures, and blocks threats in real time. Local protection runs unconditionally — no account required. When connected to the optional Obsyde dashboard service, detected events are additionally reported for centralised monitoring, geo maps, and AI-powered analysis.
Key Features:
<ul>
<li>Real-time local threat detection — SQL injection, XSS, path traversal, remote code execution, and 50+ attack patterns. Works without any account.</li>
<li>WordPress-specific protection — wp-login.php brute force detection, xmlrpc.php abuse blocking, REST API user enumeration prevention. Works without any account.</li>
<li>Automated IP blocking — Local pattern-match blocks and (optionally) a curated blocklist synced from the Obsyde platform</li>
<li>Community threat intelligence — 44,000+ known malicious IPs from 8 free intelligence sources (via the optional Obsyde sync), updated every 6 hours</li>
<li>Centralised dashboard (optional) — When an Obsyde API key is configured, view all security data on obsyde.com with real-time alerts, geo maps, and AI analysis</li>
<li>Zero performance impact — Pattern matching runs in under 5ms; no external API calls during page load (reporting is batched via WP-Cron)</li>
<li>Cloudflare compatible — Proper IP detection behind Cloudflare, nginx, and other reverse proxies</li>
</ul>
How It Works:
<ol>
<li>Install and activate the plugin — local firewall protection starts immediately</li>
<li>The plugin intercepts every HTTP request before WordPress processes it</li>
<li>Requests are checked against local attack signatures and (if an API key is configured) the synced Obsyde blocklist</li>
<li>Threats are blocked with a 403 response</li>
<li>If an Obsyde API key is configured, events are batched and sent to your dashboard every 60 seconds; the Obsyde blocklist syncs every 5 minutes. Without a key, local protection still runs — events are just not reported externally.</li>
</ol>
Protection Levels:
<ul>
<li>Low — Block known attacks only</li>
<li>Medium — Block attacks and suspicious patterns (recommended)</li>
<li>High — Aggressive blocking including empty User-Agent rejection</li>
<li>Paranoid — Maximum protection (may cause false positives)</li>
</ul>
<h3>External services</h3>
This plugin provides local firewall protection that runs entirely in your WordPress installation and does not require any external service.
When you choose to connect the plugin to the optional Obsyde dashboard service by entering an API key, the plugin communicates with the Obsyde API at https://obsyde.com/api/v1/plugin/ for centralised threat monitoring. This service is provided by Obsyde Ltd.
What data is sent, when, and why:
<ul>
<li>Threat events — When the local firewall blocks a request, an event containing the attacker’s IP address, a UTC timestamp, the attack type (e.g. “sqli_probe”), severity, HTTP method, request path (truncated to 2048 characters), and User-Agent string (truncated to 512 characters) is queued. Once per minute (via WP-Cron) any queued events are POSTed in a single batch to <code>/plugin/events</code>. This lets the Obsyde dashboard display, analyse, and correlate threats across all of your sites.</li>
<li>Blocklist sync — Once every 5 minutes (via WP-Cron) the plugin sends a GET request to <code>/plugin/blocklist</code> to retrieve the current curated list of malicious IPs. No site data is sent in this request; only the site API key identifies the request.</li>
<li>Heartbeat — Once every 5 minutes (via WP-Cron) the plugin sends a POST request to <code>/plugin/heartbeat</code> containing your WordPress version, PHP version, and plugin version so the Obsyde dashboard can show whether the site is reachable and up to date.</li>
<li>Connection test — When you click the “Test Connection” button in the settings, a single GET request is sent to <code>/plugin/config</code> to verify your API key.</li>
</ul>
No data is sent to any external service until you configure an API key. If you remove the API key or deactivate the plugin, no further external communication occurs.
This service’s terms and privacy policy:
<ul>
<li>Terms of service: https://obsyde.com/terms</li>
<li>Privacy policy: https://obsyde.com/privacy</li>
</ul>

Obsyde Aegis

Real-time threat detection, automated IP blocking, and AI-powered security analysis.

Paul

Shield Security

Most security plugins hand you a dashboard full of alerts and expect you to know what to do next. Shield works differently.
It blocks threats automatically, repairs what it can on its own, and then shows you exactly what still needs your attention — ranked by impact, not volume. Less noise. More action.
<h4>🤖 Security That Runs Itself</h4>
The most powerful thing Shield does is what it handles without you:
<ul>
<li>Automatic IP Blocking — 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>Automatic File Repair — 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>Automatic Bot Recognition — 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>
Shield organises your security into four focused areas so you always know where to look:
<ul>
<li>Queue — things that need your attention, ranked by priority. Not everything at once — just what matters right now</li>
<li>Investigate — dig into blocked IPs, security events, and the specific signals that triggered each one</li>
<li>Configure — guided setup for each protection area, with clear recommendations matched to your site</li>
<li>Reports — a clear view of what Shield has blocked, detected, and repaired over time</li>
</ul>
The goal: guide you quickly towards action, not bury you in data.
<h4>🛡️ Free Protection</h4>
Bot Blocking & Firewall
<ul>
<li><code>silentCAPTCHA</code> — 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>
Login & Account Security
<ul>
<li>Two-factor authentication (2FA) — 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>
Scanning & Integrity
<ul>
<li>Core file scanning — 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>
Visibility & Control
<ul>
<li>Security Admin PIN — 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>
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.
<h4>✨ ShieldPRO</h4>
<ul>
<li>Passkeys — phishing-resistant, passwordless login for users</li>
<li>Backup login codes — emergency 2FA access when a device is lost</li>
<li>AI-based malware scanner — detects known and unknown PHP malware</li>
<li>Plugin & theme file scanning — compares installed files against WordPress.org originals, flagging unauthorised changes</li>
<li>Vulnerability scanning — active checks across all installed plugins and themes</li>
<li>Broader spam protection — WooCommerce, EDD, Contact Form 7, Ninja Forms, Elementor, and more</li>
<li>Traffic rate limiting — cap request rates per IP to absorb high-volume bot floods</li>
<li>User suspension — manual or automatic suspension of idle accounts</li>
<li>MainWP integration</li>
<li>White Label — rename and rebrand Shield for client sites</li>
</ul>
<h4>Who It’s For</h4>
Shield suits site owners, agencies, and MSPs who want protection that runs itself — not a plugin that demands constant attention to be useful.
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.

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.

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