Choosing the best WordPress Malware Removal Plugins For Website Security

WordPress is getting popular day by day in terms of hosting and building websites. This full-featured content management system is used by more than 1 million companies around the globe. This is why hackers are targetting this CMS(Content Management System) to gain profit by taking unethical approaches. Before discussing our topic we should understand Malware.

Malware is the short form of “malicious software”. Cybercriminals or hackers develop this intrusive software to damage and destroy computers or computer systems. They can steal data with the help of this software. Hackers use malware for various reasons, such as:

• To steal financial data or credit cards
• Tricking users for getting personal data
• Infecting computer systems to mine bitcoins
• To take control over multiple computers

Now let us have a look into how does this malware work and how to remove it.

Websites made with WordPress can have some vulnerabilities and hackers look for those weak points so that they can ambush those websites and make money. Sometimes they do not want you to know that your website is hacked so that they can get a longer time to explore your site. Now the crucial question comes, how would you know that your website is hacked? and how to fix website to keep secure

The most common thing users see when they get hacked is they get some attention pictures where it says “DANGER!”. They want you to click on that site saying they are gonna save your system from hacking. Unfortunately, that is the trap. When you click it they get all login credentials in their system and hack your website. 

You might receive an email from your web hosting provider. That email will look unusual and will try to convince you that your site got hacked so you should be providing useful information to get out of this trap. 

Sometimes you can see a sharp drop in traffic. Usually, this happens when your internet connection is not good but not always. When your site gets hacked you can face something similar. You should immediately take the necessary steps to avoid danger. 

When we browse for particular information does it take us to the same page where the information is shown correctly? The answer is NO. Sometimes it will take you to a malicious site showing you a lucrative advertisement. Which means you just got hacked. 

There are other ways by which you can find out that your system got hacked. Now let us get to the main topic of our discussion. There are many WordPress plugins by which you can keep your website virus-free. You can have a look at a few plugins and their services. 

 

How to Keep Your WordPress Sites Safe Removing Malware?

The stats regarding the hacking attacks on WordPress sites every single minute are surprising and can be a major concern for all the site owners because they cannot risk the data related to their businesses. WordPress is mainly the software that is totally free of cost and is open-source for anyone to use, modify or share, so it’d be very easy for all the users to insert any kind of bad code into the core or a theme or plugin of this software.

Tasking into consideration all these security concerns, Web Developers are working hard for the protection of these WordPress Source Codes. There is another thing to consider that the developers along with the site owners may create a security system that is totally customized and meets the requirements of every site with a combination of one or more plugins and these plugins will be adding specialized functionalities to that specific WordPress site.

Every single WordPress site is different from the others in terms of security requirements and problems associated with it. For example, if you think of a business site, they’ll surely be insecure regarding the amount as well as the products they’ve. The data includes the information related to the credit cards of their customers. The same goes for the sites of organizations that are non-profit. All such sites surely try their level best to protect their data. Similarly, if it’s a site related to designs, the owner will take care of it in order to ensure the safety of the designs. Moreover, many sites contain the personal data of other people which must be secured at any cost. So, in each of the above-mentioned cases, a plugin of the highest quality will get the job done.

Features needed for a Security Plugin

A good plugin will have the following features in order to ensure the security of a site.

• It’ll monitor the site including the scanning of all the files as well as the malware.
• It’ll monitor the site for protecting it from other dangerous sites.
• Firewall Protection will be done by the plugin.
• It will be capable of providing the users with authentication protocols in several different roles.
• It’ll keep rejecting weaker passwords in order to maintain Password Protocols.
• It’ll notify you regarding any suspicious or doubtful activity (via email) which is being done on the site.
• The plugin will provide backups for all the files in order to protect the site against any kind of hacking attack or any such activity.

If the hosting provider you’re using is a shared one, you must put stiff security in order to ensure the security of your site as well as the others on the same server. The reason is that if one site isn’t functioning well and is prone to malware, it’ll be infecting other sites present in the same space and the server may crash as well because of it. All in all, one infected site can take down all the other sites.

As far as the best plugins in WordPress for security are concerned, they can be installed and customized quite easily. Besides this, most of them are totally free of cost but there are premium versions as well which will be required by some of the sites because of the additional features. You can avail yourself of quite a few features from the plugin directory of WordPress, which can access quite easily through the admin’s dashboard of your site. If you’re looking for a few other options, you can avail yourself of them from so many different developers throughout the world. But if you think of a single plugin to provide you with all the features, it won’t be possible in few cases. Especially when there is an issue like hacked website repair. So, in order to make up for that, you’ll have to install different plugins and combine them in your site to avail all the required features in order to meet your site’s requirements of protecting the site from different hacking attacks.

Here is a list of the few best security plugins along with the comparison between them to see which one suits different sites according to the needs.

1. Sucuri Security WordPress Plugin

Sucuri is one of the most popular website security companies that mainly specialize in the security of WordPress sites. This company provides its users with a cloud-based firewall in order to protect the site from hackers, blacklists, and malware. Besides this, there are so many products to offer by it as well including CDN, scanning, and monitoring of malware, detection of any change in the files and so many other such services. The security firewall it provides is mainly to fight against hacks or bad traffic.

Sucuri company was basically founded back in 2009 and it has got a team of professionals in more than 20 countries working successfully. Its stats are surprising and others can only dream of such professionalism and trustworthiness. Sucuri can remediate more than 500 sites (which are infected) each day. This isn’t the end, they are capable of monitoring more than 2 million websites along with the handling of more than 25 Billion views on different pages every single month. This shows the professionalism and positive behavior of this team towards different problems for providing security to each website. If you start enabling the Sucuri plugin on your site, it’ll keep blocking any kind of hacking attempt or malware in order to avoid any risk. In this way, you’ll start getting real visitors to your site instead of fake traffic. Moreover, because of this plugin, your website will speed up work better for sure which will be beneficial in the overall Search Engine Optimization as well.

Why Sucuri Security Plugin?

The tools that are being used by Sucuri will clean your site as well as secure it and this plugin aren’t difficult to set up on your website. Let’s take a look at some of its features to realize their importance.

Since malware involves any software or activity which is used for evil purposes. Hackers usually keep uploading this malware to a specific site in so many different ways i.e. disguised plugins, manipulation of source codes, phishing or through the backdoors. So, if you’re using this security plugin, you’ll be able to remove or fix any such code present in your website or database. Besides this, your website can be restored as well (that was hacked) prior to any damage to your reputation that was made because of your site. The scanner tends to scan the website remotely in order to find any malware. You can check the website manually as well if the scanner isn’t working properly. Apart from this, the Web Application Firewall is also there to ensure that you do not face any such issues in the future.

DDoS is mainly a kind of attack in which hackers do not let your users access your website. There is a common thing with all the hackers that they ask for some amount to stop attacking the site. In order to resolve this issue, this plugin detects and blocks any such attack quite easily. It can also prevent fake traffic from any malicious bot. This plugin is also helpful in protecting the site against Brute Force Attacks. This method refers to a cracking method in which detailed research is done on which mainly depends upon a combination of so many different passwords until the correct one is found. Every single website can be attacked in this way. Once the attackers get Unauthorized access to the site, no one can stop them from destroying your business. However, the functionality of the Sucuri plugin will prevent these attacks in order to keep the site safe by using various methods including Captcha, passcodes, 2FA or Signature detection.

2. WordFence. WordPress Security Plugin for Malware Removal

As of now, we’ve come to know how important security is for a website. Hacking attacks on your site make the visitors question its legitimacy which in turn leads to the bad reputation of the site and its owner and all the hard work done on it goes in vain. Because of this, so many site owners ask for different security plugins to tackle such a situation. Even though there are so many tools available to cope with such situations, a plugin that is recommended in most of the cases is WordFence.

Scanning Your Site with WordFence

You can avail strong scanning tools through WordFence plugin. It will check for common attacks such as backdoors, Injection or any such suspicious code. Once you’re done with the scanning process, you’ll get to know about the number of issues that have been found. Not only this, WordFence will let you know about the details of every single issue along with its solution. This is the reason why it is preferred by millions of people around the world. This helps WordFence in collecting the data from so many different sites which assists them later in learning about the new threats and attacks and how to tackle them. But that doesn’t actually mean it’s 100% efficient and perfect in each manner. Sometimes it works well and catches any backdoor that is out there in the site. But it may happen that it doesn’t catch any despite having one in the site. In such a case, it is recommended to have more than one tool in order to keep your website safe.

Monitoring the Traffic

Even though most of the traffic for any site comes from different search engines or other automated bots and it’s a normal thing. But if your site is being attacked, you’ll surely notice the hits from that particular IPs to the site. If you use the tool for Live Traffic Monitoring in this plugin, you’ll get to know about all those IPs quickly and it’ll be easy for you to block them from your site.

Since this plugin collects a lot of information regarding your site which is surely beneficial, you won’t get much help as an owner. Different kinds of Ips are used in the attacks depending upon the network. So, it’s not easy to block a number of Ips at once despite knowing them. Whenever you block any IP address or network, your bot net is switched to some other network. This ultimately becomes a long-lasting game and there is no way you can win it by simply monitoring and later blocking them. However, you may read a document regarding the use of tools in this plugin, this document is available on official website of WordFEnce. 

Comparison Between Sucuri Security Plugin and WordFence Plugin

Sucuri	WordFence
Key Features and Pricing
It helps in monitoring the files and the site for	WordFence scans different viruses, malware and backdoors.
their protection from other dangerous sites.	It scans known URLs (with malware) in the files, pages or posts.
It mainly provides the users with authentication protocols in several different roles.	It has a Firewall that blocks any fake IP and can also be used for rate limiting.
It scans the files in order to get rid of any malware or suspicious activity.	It notifies the user via email regarding any suspicious activity.
Browsing of Google sites is possible with Sucuri Security Plugin.	It provides protection from Brute Force Attacks as well from damaging your site.
You’ll be notified via email regarding any hacking attack.	WordFence provides protection from comment impersonation as well.
Sucuri CDN helps in improving the performance as well as the speed of your website.	It provides geolocation (of Commercial Grade) to bring real traffic to your site.
One of the tools in the Sucuri is responsible for letting the user know regarding any activity on WordPress including the changes in setting or simply an update.	It reduces the usage of memory which in turn makes your site run smoothly.
Sucuri Security Plugin helps in the auditing of every single security activity.	The basic version of WordFence can be used without paying a single penny, but its premium versions cost almost $39 per year.
In case of data failure, Sucuri provides the users with website backups as well.	WordFence verifies the core files in WordPress and can repair them as well at the time of need.
Its basic version is totally free of cost while the premium or Pro version with so many exciting features costs almost $299 a year.

 

3. Defender, another WordPress Malware Removal Plugin

Since security is a major concern for every site owner and we’ve talked about a few plugins with so many exciting features, let’s take a look at another such security plugin named Defender. Even though every security plugin is better in terms of usage and performance, some of them surprise the users as well. You must be wondering if Defender is one of those plugins, you’re right to some extent. Its features make the user fall in love with it. Defender Security plugin is up to the mark and is working with the latest version of WordPress. If you’re a blogger or you own a blogging website, you’ll get so many features without paying a single penny. Besides this, the ease of use and the simple setting add to the features of Defender. If you want to know more about Defender, you must visit the official website because there is documentation available there.

As far as the issues are concerned, you can enlist them first and later fix them using this plugin. Scanning of files is another task done by Defender. By scanning all the files, Defender will let you know which files are harmful and must not be there in your site, you can just select all such files and delete them. Defender can help you in blocking IPs as well. Most of the time, hackers try to attack using different IP addresses in order to get to know about the login credentials of the site, Defender locks such IPs after a few failed attempts. It’s up to you to decide for how much time should they be locked out. The location features of Defender enable you to block any of the users from any country from visiting your site. In this way, you can get rid of these attacks happening in certain countries or locations. Apart from all these, its two-factor authentication makes it even more special. All of these reasons suggest you to go for Defender Security Plugin.

4. VaultPress

There is no worse feeling than when you lose important files or data in your PC. Deep inside, you think of giving everything away just to have those files back. The same goes for you if you’re a website owner and someone tries to attack your website in order to harm you and the website. These days, it’s possible to avoid any such activity with the help of these security plugins. You can also go another way, just make copies of all the important files and data on a weekly or monthly basis and save them in the Vault. But there are other things for the Vault to do as well. It can help you in making your site secure. But we’ll need to know what VaultPress actually is.

VaultPress is mainly a backup plugin in WordPress and is developed by a company named Automattic. Since regular backups keep your site safe and secure, it can also help in maintaining your site’s performance. If your website gets hacked someday or any such thing happens, you won’t lose everything if you’re using these backup plugins. VaultPress works in the same way as other Backup Plugins do, it scans the files and lets the owner of the site know about the issues with the site along with their details and how to fix them those issues. If you own a business website, you must have priority support as well. If you don’t, you’ll end up losing your customers.

VaultPress isn’t only helpful in backing up the data but it also protects the site from malicious attacks by shielding it automatically. Besides this, it blocks all the spammers and attackers in order to protect your SEO and brand reputation as well. Two-factor Authentication is also available in VaultPress.

Comparison Between Defender Security Plugin and VaultPress Plugin

Defender	VaultPress
Key Features and Pricing
Defender is capable of analyzing the security of your site and it has so many recommendations for security tweaks as well.	VaultPress is mainly helpful in backing up the lost files, posts, pages, comments or any such content in order to protect the site.
Defender scans the files, checks for the issues, give a detailed documentation on it and fixes it within no time merely by a single click.	Like so many other security plugins, it also scans the files in order to let the site owner know about any malware present in the site and then fixes the issues as well.
Defenders can lock out the IPs manually or automatically.	Email notifications are considered to be compulsory while using this plugin.
Two-factor verification is one of its key features which is used to verify the codes for mobile apps and passwords as well.	Firewall is also there to ensure that you do not face any such issue in future. Moreover, Firewall which blocks any fake IP and can also be used for rate limiting
Being a backup plugin, it can easily restore your files.	VaultPress protects the site from hacking attacks by shielding it automatically.
Defender skips the files depending upon their sizes and chooses the types of files to scan.	The basic version of VaultPress is similar to other security plugins and is totally free of cost. But for Premium version, you’ll have to pay $49 a year to get real-time backups along with permissions.
You will be notified through email regarding any malware in Defender Security Plugin.
Defender is free of cost and can be used by anyone around the world. Its premium version is paid and has a lot of additional features.

 

5. iThemes Security Plugin, WordPress Malware Security Plugin

iThemes Security Plugin was founded by an entrepreneur named Cory Miller in order to assist web developers in creating some eye-catching WordPress themes and or new web developers as well in order to train them. The company was later expanded into backup, security and other such tools for helping WordPress users around the globe. WordPress mainly manages the content and is working well in this regard. But it’s not very good at providing security to its users. You can easily host a website with the help of WordPress but it is up to you to secure it or it’ll be hacked. That’s where these security plugins come into play. They provide the users with some additional features in order to protect their sites and make them work smoothly without any hurdle.

As far as the usage of iThemes Security Plugin is concerned, it’s quite easy and has been helpful for the users. Once it’s installed, you’ll be provided with security of the highest level by the default setting of the plugin without spending a lot of time on the configuration of these settings. Moreover, the users are given a number of measures for protecting their sites from any threat either internal or external. You can get so many safeguards as well if you’re a logged-in user. But there are certain things to look at in this plugin as well. A lot of users go past the default setting without even taking a look at it for once because of so much information given there. Moreover, your WordPress Dashboard may slow down because of the enabling few functions.

6. Google Authenticator

Google Authenticator is a security plugin that provides users with a secure login for their WordPress sites. It’s quite simple, easy to use, and is free of cost. Since we’ve already talked about Two-Factor Authentication, Google Authenticator provides that as well every time we log in to a site which in turn stops any unauthorized access to the site. Since the cracking of passwords is a normal thing these days and if you’re using the same password for different accounts or sites, hacking of one site will result in the same situation for other sites as well. Most of the time, the users or owners don’t consider it a big deal and keep on using the same password despite getting emails from the company for changing it for security purposes. This is totally unacceptable for a Professional.

In order to cope with any of the situations mentioned above, Two-step verification or authentication plays a key role. Even if your username along with the password is known to the hackers, they won’t be able to access the site until they obtain a security code. Google Authenticator provides that special code. But this code will expire in a minute or two. But you can use the relaxed mode in Google Authenticator if you want the code to last for at least four minutes. In this way, you can secure your website from any such attack. All you need to do is to install and set this plugin up and it’ll get the rest of the job done for you quite easily.

Comparison Between iThemes Security Plugin and Google Authenticator Plugin

iThemes Security Plugin		Google Authenticator
Key Features and Pricing
iThemes Security Plugin checks for any kind of vulnerability present in your site in order to get rid of it. It provides blacklists for the banned users along with IP addresses. In case if your site gets hacked and you end up losing your data, iThemes Security Plugin will provide you with backups as well. It can detect all the Brute Force Attacks and helps in stopping them from harming your site. It can detect any change occurred in the files quite easily. iThemes Security Plugin can configure your passwords as well to make them more secure. Two-Factor Authentication is done in order to enhance the security of the site. Even the basic version of iThemes Security Plugin provides the users with a lot of features and tools while the premium one also has a lot to offer to the users. It can import or export the tools from one site to the other site for copying the security settings. The basic version of iThemes Security Plugin is free just like the other security plugins but its premium version costs almost $80 a year.	Google Authenticator is quite easy to use and is simple as compared to other plugins. Two-stage verification or Authentication is one of the key features of Google Authenticator which helps in securing your site. It provides multiple login options for the users. It notifies the users via email regarding any update in Google Authenticator. It protects all the files and data by monitoring them in order to avoid any hacking attack or malware. Unlike other plugins, it can work with all kinds of devices whether it’s a computer, laptop or a mobile phone. Firewall is also a part of this plugin which helps in protecting the site from malicious activities. It can scan all the files for detecting a virus or a malware. Google Authenticator blocks all the IPs that try to attack a site in order to hack it. The location features of Google Authenticator enables you to block any of the users from any country from visiting your site. In this way, you can get rid of these attacks happening from certain countries or locations. Its basic version provides the users with so many features and is free. But the premium and Pro versions will cost $199 for one year.

 

Conclusion and Suggestions for Malware Removal Plugins

WordPress handles a large number of websites ( either professional or personal) around the globe and some of these sites may fall prey to hacking or malicious activities. The use of WordPress Security Plugins lets you get rid of any such attack and keeps your website safe and sound. All the Security plugins explained above are the best in business and can get the job done for you quite quickly and smoothly. If you’re looking for a specific plugin according to the situation, let us suggest you accordingly:

• If you’re looking for a plugin for best value, you can use Sucuri Security or iThemes Security.
• If you need a Free Security Plugin, WordFence and Sucuri are there for you.
• For beginners, Defender is the best option to choose as a security plugin.
• Looking for Two-Factor Authentication? Go for Google Authenticator.
• If you’re interested in beautiful interfaces, choose VaultPress Security Plugin.

Start using these plugins today for keeping your site safe and let us know about your experience.