mgm security partners GmbH

WP Author Security is a lightweight but powerful plugin to protect against user enumeration attacks on author pages and other places where valid user names can be obtained.
By default, WordPress will display some sensitive information on author pages. 
The author page is typically called by requesting the URI <code>https://yourdomain.tld/?author=<id></code> or with permalinks <code>https://yourdomain.tld/author/<username></code>. 
The page will include (depending on your theme) the full name (first and last name) as well as the username of the author which is used to log in to WordPress.
In some cases, it is not wanted to expose this information to the public. An attacker is able to brute force valid IDs or valid usernames. This information might be used for further attacks like social engineering attacks or log in brute force attacks with gathered usernames. 
However, when using the plugin and you disable author pages completely it must be noted that you need to take care that your active theme will not display the author name itself on posts like “Posted by admin” or something like that. This is something the plugin will not handle (at the moment).
By using the extension, you are able to disable the author pages either completely or display them only when the author has at least one published post. When the page is disabled the default 404 error page of the active theme is displayed.
In addition, the plugin will also protect other locations which are commonly used by attackers to gather valid user names. These are:
<ul>
<li>The REST API for users which will list all users with published posts by default. 
 https://yourdomain.tld/wp-json/wp/v2/users</li>
<li>The log in page where different error messages will indicate whether an entered user name or mail address exists or not. The plugin will display a neutral error message independently whether the user exists or not.</li>
<li>The password forgotten function will also allow an attacker to check for the existence of a user. As for the log in page the plugin will display a neutral message even when the user does not exists.</li>
<li>Requesting the feed endpoint /feed of your blog will also allow others to see the username or display name of the author. The plugin will remove the name from the result list.</li>
<li>WordPress supports so-called oEmbeds. This is a technique to embed a reference to a post into another post. However, this reference will also contain the author name and a direct link to the profile page. The plugin will also remove the name and link here.</li>
<li>Since WordPress 5.5 a default sitemap can be reached via /wp-sitemap.xml. This sitemap will disclose the usernames of all authors. If this should not be disclosed you are able to disable this feature of WordPress.</li>
</ul>

WP Author Security

Protect against user enumeration attacks on author pages and other places where valid user names can be obtained.

fullworks

Alan Fuller

Stop User Enumeration is a security plugin designed to detect and prevent hackers scanning your site for user login names.
User Enumeration is a type of attack where nefarious parties can probe your website to discover your login name. This is often a pre-cursor to brute-force password attacks. Stop User Enumeration helps block this initial attack and allows you to log IPs launching these attacks to block further attacks in the future.
Tools like WPSCAN are designed for use by ethical hackers and make efforts to find user login names. Ethical hackers ask permission first, this plugin is designed to reduce the tools when used without permission and when used in conjunction with fail2ban can block those attempts at the firewall.
If you are on a VPS or dedicated server, as the attack IP is logged, you can use (optional additional configuration) fail2ban to block the attack directly at your server’s firewall, a very powerful solution for VPS owners to stop brute force attacks as well as DDoS attacks.
If you don’t have access to install fail2ban ( e.g. on a Shared Host ) you can still use this plugin.
The plugin can stop the user id being leaked by the oEmbed API call.
Since WordPress 4.5 user data can also be obtained by API calls without logging in, this is a WordPress feature, but if you don’t need it to get user data, this 
plugin will restrict and log that too.
Since WordPress 5.5 sitemaps are generated by core WP ( wp-sitemap.xml ) which includes a user/author sitemap that exposes the user id. You can enable / disable this in the plugin settings.
<h4>PHP 8.4 compatible</h4>
Tested on PHP 8.4
<h4>Features Include</h4>
<ul>
<li>Blocks user enumeration requests by GET or POST</li>
<li>Syslogs a block so Fail2Ban can be used to block an IP</li>
<li>Optionally blocks REST API user requests for non authorized users</li>
<li>Optionally removes author sitemap</li>
<li>Optionally removes author from OEMBED</li>
<li>Optionally removes numbers from comment authors</li>
</ul>
<h3>Privacy</h3>
This plugin includes an optional email feature for plugin news and updates. When enabled:
<ul>
<li>Your email address may be sent to https://fullworksplugins.com for important plugin updates and security notices</li>
<li>This is completely optional and requires your explicit consent via the opt-in form in the plugin settings</li>
<li>No data is collected or transmitted without your permission</li>
<li>You can opt-out at any time from the plugin settings</li>
<li>No other personal data is collected or transmitted to external services</li>
</ul>
The plugin logs attempted user enumeration attacks locally using WordPress’s standard logging system: 
* IP addresses of potential attackers are logged locally for security monitoring 
* These logs remain on your server and are not transmitted to any external service 
* Logs can be used with fail2ban or similar tools for enhanced security
For more information about data handling, please visit https://fullworksplugins.com/privacy-policy/

Stop User Enumeration

Works as a charm!

Helps secure your site against hacking attacks through detecting  User Enumeration

WP Author Security vs Stop User Enumeration