WordPress is one of the best platforms for you to make your websites and blogs, and many people turn to it to create successful sites.
Its popularity is because of the wide range of different features and designs that you can use to make your site the best it can be.
However, the ease of use and popularity of WordPress comes at a cost. Software with wide adoption means more opportunities for bad guys to attack it.
One way you can protect your website is through the popular Sucuri plugin. But what is it and what does it do?
Well, we’ve got the answers. In our Sucuri overview, you’ll find everything you need about the WordPress plugin Sucuri.
Sucuri, as you might guess from its name, is all about security. Security is essential to running a site because you want it protected from attacks.
We’re going to get into detailed explanations of its major features, looking at how each of them can help you run your WordPress site more smoothly and safely.
If you want to learn how to add more protection to your WordPress site, you’ll want to read on.
Table of Contents
What Is Sucuri?
Sucuri Inc is one of the world’s leading security providers for websites and cyber attacks.
One of their many outlets for providing security to people’s websites is their WordPress plugin, Sucuri, which can be installed for free.
The plugin offers plenty of features to better protect your sites from online threats, such as performing scans for malware and offering tools to harden security measures.
On top of that, it offers checks for the core integrity, as well as a series of measures and advice for the unfortunate times when threats come through, and your WordPress site is, indeed, compromised and affected.
As you can tell, Sucuri is there every step of the way when it comes to providing security for your WordPress websites, whether it’s preventing hacking and malware or helping to ease the damage if you’ve been affected already.
What Should You Do Before You Install Sucuri?
Sucuri is a great and helpful tool to help protect your WordPress sites, and it is accessible to everyone, making it even more promising.
However, before you install it, there are a few things you will want to think about.
Like all programs and plugins you get, you’ll want to consider it first, and familiarize yourself with what it can offer you.
Is It Compatible?
A critical thing you’ll want to check before installing Sucuri for free as a plugin with your WordPress site is whether it is compatible with your WordPress version.
Like many computer programs you will have come across, the Sucuri plugin only works with specific versions of WordPress.
If you think about your mobile phone, it probably has regular software updates.
After a certain point, as your phone grows older, it will stop being able to get the later software updates.
It is the same for WordPress and installing Sucuri. Make sure your WordPress is updated to the current version to avoid any potential issues.
Sucuri works with WordPress version 3.6 and higher, but let’s face it if you’re running WordPress that old, you’re most likely already compromised. Update regularly.
Is Sucuri Compatabile With My Host?
Yes, Sucuri works with your host. Enough said.
SiteCheck And Scanning Site Integrity
This is another helpful tool that you can use before you install the Sucuri plugin.
Sucuri offers a SiteCheck tool, which is a free and easy scanner to check a website for any malware, as well as inspect its integrity and overall security.
Viruses, website errors, malicious coding, and software that is out of date should all be picked up by it, as well as see what its blacklisting status is.
The latter is about whether the website is being blacklisted by search engines, and therefore not appearing in its search results.
The SiteCheck will find any malicious coding visible from the external source code of the website only because it can’t get into the coding.
However, this is still very helpful and makes a difference.
It can be a good idea to use the SiteCheck tool before you install the plugin, just to have an idea of whether you will be having any problems.
After all, the Sucuri plugin offers, among many other features, tools to help your site recover after a cyber threat has already breached.
If you find out from the SiteCheck that your WordPress website already has externally-visible problems, then you will doubly want to install the plugin so that you can start working on solutions.
SiteCheck is very easy to use, simply paste your URL and click on Submit.
Extra Support
If you have any issues, or you’re unsure about how to install the plugin or whether it will work for your WordPress site, you can always consult Sucuri’s guides.
On top of that, you can contact them via their live chat or email.
Sucuri – What Features Does It Have?
Now that we’ve looked at what you should keep in mind before you install the Sucuri plugin for your WordPress site, we can look at the features that you can enjoy after you get it.
Sucuri offers a wide range of different and useful features all based around protecting your site and making it more resilient to future cyber threats.
Hardening The Security Of Your WordPress Site
These useful features help by putting in place extra measures to improve the security of your website, hardening it up, and aiming to prevent cyber threats.
It installs them in areas of the site that are typical targets for attackers, making your weakest WordPress points less vulnerable.
Some of these preventative tactics are to keep your uploads directory secure or to remove your WordPress version display.
Generally, hardened security is achieved by adding specific rules to the site’s .htaccess file, locking down settings, and verifying secure configurations.
Customizing Security Settings
You can easily mold Sucuri to meet the needs of your site, customizing it with the simple and intuitive settings menu.
While there, you can schedule security scans, customize email alerts, and more.
Malware Scanning
Speaking of scanning, Sucuri and its SiteCheck use remote scanners to help look for malware within your site.
The scanners are regularly updated, so they are always on top of the game, instead of getting left behind and missing new threats.
The scanners look for malicious content, as well as software that has become outdated and website errors.
On top of that, the scanner also checks your blacklisted status.
Email Alerts
A good way to prevent future security breaches is to be on top of things, and there are a few better ways to do that than with regular email updates and alerts.
Sucuri will inform you whenever there has been any suspicious activity on or around your site, meaning that you can act and work with Sucuri to get rid of the threats before they take hold.
Post-Hack Help
Of course, if an attack ever has got through to your site, then Sucuri will help you recover.
Sucuri has spent years investigating hacked WordPress sites and helping administrators identify the issues and overcome them.
If your site is ever compromised, Sucuri will help you pick up the pieces, allowing you to go and install new protective measures to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
Checking The Core Integrity
The Sucuri plugin also boasts features that revolve around checking your site’s core file integrity, as well as additional files that are present because they came with the original WordPress iteration.
The core files involve things such as JavaScript, PHP, and CCS.
Sucuri will monitor the integrity of these, noticing when there have been changes to the core files and helping to eradicate any threats that have been causing such changes.
Sucuri Firewall Integration
If you use the Firewall option in the plugin, the Sucuri Firewall can be connected to it for extra measures and advanced protective capabilities.
The Sucuri Firewall removes malware, speeds up the loading times of your website, and improves the availability of your website.
However, Sucuri Firewall costs money, and only users who subscribe to it can add it to the free plugin.
Setting Up The Sucuri WordPress Plugin
If you’ve ever poked around the settings and features of your favorite web browser, you have probably come across the concept of plugins.
Simply put, they are extensions that users can add on to get new features and tools.
When it comes to WordPress, there is a vast library of plugins that you can add or buy, to add new features to your sites, or to add new management features that allow you to edit and control things more easily.
The Sucuri plugin is no different. There are 2 easy steps to follow to install the plugin. Check it out below.
Step One: Install The Plugin
First, you want to download the Sucuri WordPress plugin straight from the WordPress repository.
If you don’t want to do it that way, you can also go to the dashboard for WordPress plugins.
There, find the search box and enter “Sucuri.” The option “Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening” should appear.
Select it and install it.
Once it’s activated, you will be able to get to all the features whenever you want simply by selecting the “Sucuri Plugin” option that appears on your WordPress menu.
Step Two: Generate Your API Key
An API key is an application programming interface key, which is used to authenticate users and call programs.
This ensures that your website will be securely connected to the plugin.
By generating and activating your key, your account for WordPress will be able to connect to the Sucuri servers.
This is especially useful because it allows Sucuri to investigate your account and site even if a hacker removes the audit logs of the plugin.
To get your API key, you first want to go to the WordPress dashboard. There, open the “Sucuri Plugin” and click the option for generating the API key.
Before you do this, you will have to tick a Terms of Service box. We recommend that you read it before ticking.
After that, your API key will be generated. This will allow the Sucuri plugin to be in dialogue with an API service, and that service will safely store your audit logs.
These are records of the activities that have happened with your website.
Sucuri Website Application Firewall (WAF)
We mentioned earlier that you could add the Sucuri Firewall (WAF) to your WordPress plugin, but only if you’re a paid subscriber.
You can buy with a choice of two plans.
- The Basic Firewall plan is $9.99 monthly and has few features.
- On the other hand, the Pro Firewall plan is $19.98 a month and comes with the same features, with the addition of SSL support.
Sucuri Overview – Final Thoughts
Cybersecurity is essential to WordPress sites, and the Sucuri plugin is a great way to get protected, with plenty of different security features. If this looks like it would work for you, check it out.