FAQ

Please see the dedicated help centre for details on features and some FAQs.

How does the Shield compare with other WordPress Security Plugins?

Easy – we’re just better! 😉

Firstly, we don’t modify a single core WordPress or web hosting file. This is important and explains why randomly you upgrade your security plugin and your site dies.

Ideally you shouldn’t use this along side other Anti-SPAM plugins or security plugins. If there is a feature you need, please feel free to suggest it in the support forums.

My server has a firewall, why do I need this plugin?

This plugin is an application layer firewall, not a server/network firewall. It is designed to interpret web calls to your site to look for attempts to circumvent it and gain unauthorized access.

Your network firewall is designed to restrict access to your server based on certain types of network traffic. The Shield
is designed to restrict access to your site, based on certain type of web calls.

How does the IP Whitelist work?

Any IP address that is on the whitelist will not be subject to any of the firewall processing. This setting takes priority over all other settings.

Does the IP Whitelist support IP ranges?

Yes. To specify a range you use CIDR notation. E.g. ABC.DEF.GHJ.KMP/16

I want to review and manage IP addresses, where can I do that?

You can use IP Lists section. This is an essential tool you can use to analyse IP address, review information concerning blocked and bypassed IP addresses.

It shows you geo-location information and all the request made to your site by that IP, including offenses and any logged-in users.

I’ve locked myself out from my own site!

This happens when any the following 3 conditions are met:

• you have added your IP address to the firewall blacklist,
• you have enabled 2 factor authentication and email doesn’t work on your site (and you haven’t chosen the override option)

You can completely turn OFF (and ON) the Shield by creating a special file in the plugin folder.

Here’s how:

1. Open up an FTP connection to your site, browse to the plugin folder /wp-content/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/
2. Create a new file in here called: “forceOff”.
3. Load any page on your WordPress site.
4. After this, you’ll find your Shield has been switched off.

Remember: If you leave one of these files on the server, it will override your on/off settings, so you should delete it when you no longer need it.

Which takes precedence… bypass list or block list?

Bypass List: so if you have the same address in both lists, it’ll be bypassed and never be blocked.

Can I assist with development?

Yes! We actively develop our plugin on Github and the best thing you can do is submit pull request and bug reports which we’ll review.

How does the pages/parameters whitelist work?

It is a comma-separated list of pages and parameters. A NEW LINE should be taken for each new page name and its associated parameters.

The first entry on each line (before the first comma) is the page name. The rest of the items on the line are the parameters.

The following are some simple examples to illustrate:

edit.php, featured

On the edit.php page, the parameter with the name ‘featured’ will be ignored.

admin.php, url, param01, password

Any parameters that are passed to the page ending in ‘admin.php’ with the names ‘url’, ‘param01’ and ‘password’ will
be excluded from the firewall processing.

*, url, param, password

Putting a star first means that these exclusions apply to all pages. So for every page that is accessed, all the parameters
that are url, param and password will be ignored by the firewall.

How does the login cooldown work?

Login Cooldown prevents more than 1 login attempt to your site every “so-many” seconds. So if you enable a login cooldown of 60 seconds, only 1 login attempt will be processed every 60 seconds. If you login incorrectly, you wont be able to attempt another login for a further 60 seconds.

This system completely blocks any level of brute-force login attacks and a cooldown of just 1 second goes a long way.

More Info: https://shsec.io/2t

How does the GASP Login Guard work?

This is best described on the blog

How does the 2-factor authentication work?

2-Factor Authentication is best described here.

I’m not receiving the email with 2FA verification code.?

Email delivery is a huge problem with WordPress sites and is very common.

Your WordPress is not designed to send emails. The best solution is to use a service that is dedicated to the purpose of sending emails.

This is what we recommend.

I’m getting an update message although I have auto update enabled?

The Automatic (Background) WordPress updates happens on a WordPress schedule – it doesn’t happen immediately when an update is detected.
You can either manually upgrade, or WordPress will handle it in due course.

I’m getting large volumes of comment SPAM. How can I stop this?

You can block 100% of automated spam bots and also block and analyse human-generated spam. This is best described here.

Do you offer White Label?

Yes, we do. You can essentially rename the Shield plugin to whatever you would like it to be.

It ensures a more consistent brand offering and presents your business offering as a more holistic, integrated solution.

We go into further detail here.

I’d like to customise 2FA emails sent to my site users. How can I do that?

You can use our custom templates for this purpose.

How can I remove the WordPress admin footer message that displays my IP address?

You can add some custom code to your functions.php exactly as the following:

add_filter( 'icwp_wpsf_print_admin_ip_footer', '__return_false' );

How can I change the text/html in the Plugin Badge?

Use the following filter and return the HTML/Text you wish to display:

add_filter( 'icwp_shield_plugin_badge_text', 'your_function_to_return_text' );

How can I change the roles for login notification emails?

Use the following filter and return the role in the function:

add_filter( 'icwp-wpsf-login-notification-email-role', 'your_function_to_return_role' );

Possible options are: network_admin, administrator, editor, author, contributor, subscriber

What changes go into each Shield version?

The changelog outlines the main changes for each release. We group changes by minor release “Series”. Changes in smaller “point” releases are highlighted
using (.1) notation. So for example, version 10.1.1 will have changelog items appended with (.1)

You can view the entire Shield changelog here.