당신이 생각하는 것과는 다른 "최고의" WordPress 맬웨어 스캐너

A 당신:

• WordPress 사이트가 해킹당한 것이 걱정되십니까?
• 온라인에서 최고의 WordPress 악성 코드 스캐너를 찾고 계십니까?
• 어떤 멀웨어 스캐너 플러그인을 사용해야 할지 잘 모르시겠습니까?

좋은. 올바른 위치에 있습니다!

최대한 빨리 몇 가지 문제를 해결해 보겠습니다.

• WordPress가 가끔 이상하게 작동합니다.
• 사이트가 해킹당했다는 의미는 아닙니다.

하지만 지금 바로 확인해야 합니다.

해킹을 당하지 않았는지 확인하고 이것이 여기 온 유일한 이유인 경우 건너뛰고 싶다면 다음을 사용하는 것이 좋습니다.

MalCare를 사용하여 지금 WordPress 사이트에서 맬웨어를 무료로 검사하십시오.

그러나 "가장 좋은 WordPress 악성 코드 스캐너는 무엇입니까?"라고 묻기 위해 여기에 온 경우 그런 다음 계속 읽어야 합니다. 이 질문에 대한 답을 제공하는 리더보드가 있으며 다음 단계입니다.

우리의 리더보드는 최고의 WordPress 멀웨어 스캐너 플러그인의 순위를 매기고 빠르게 선택할 수 있는 방법을 제공합니다.

여기에 질문이 있습니다.

페어리 더스트 마케팅에만 관심이 있습니까?

그렇지 않다면 다음에 관심을 갖게 될 것입니다.

• 맬웨어 스캐너에 의존할 때의 위험 이해
• 인기 있는 맬웨어 스캐너가 가장 유능한 스캐너가 아니라는 것을 알고 있습니다.
• 특정 브랜드에 돈을 쓰고 투자하는 이유

이 경우 당사의 자세한 분석을 반드시 확인하셔야 합니다.

왜 관심을 가져야 하나요?

여기 진실이 있습니다...

잘못된 정보의 물결이 있습니다. WordPress 멀웨어 스캐너 플러그인에 있습니다.

WordPress 보안에 대한 대부분의 기사를 신뢰하는 것은 완전히 해롭습니다.

최악의 부분은?

마케팅 요정 먼지에 휩쓸려 그 과정에서 엄청난 돈을 잃는 것은 너무나 쉽습니다.

하지만 충분히 환기를 시키세요. 여러분이 기다리던 순위표를 제공하겠습니다.

WordPress 악성 코드 스캐너 리더보드

간단히 살펴보겠습니다.

• 업계 최고의 멀웨어 스캐너
• 랭킹 시스템에서 2위를 차지한
• 그리고 당신이 속지 말아야 할 몇 가지 다른 옵션들.

면책조항

다음 세그먼트에서 우리는 시장에서 최고의 플러그인 중 일부를 분류하고 비판적으로 살펴봅니다.

이 플러그인이 그 자체로 "나쁘다"는 의미는 아닙니다. 그러나 보안은 방대한 주제이며 플러그인 업데이트 빈도에 관계없이 모든 사람이 비즈니스의 모든 측면에 투자할 수 있는 것은 아닙니다.

동시에 특정 사용자 수에 도달하면 안주하기 쉽습니다.

이 기사의 목적은 플러그인을 비하하거나 플러그인이 더 나은 작업을 수행하지 못하는 이유를 추측하는 것이 아닙니다. 우리는 단순히 무엇을 더 잘할 수 있고 다른 것보다 더 잘할 수 있는지에 대해 언급합니다.

#1 MalCare

MalCare는 제공하는 스캔의 깊이 때문에 리더보드의 맨 위에 있습니다. 원격 스캐너보다 똑똑하고 서버 스캐너보다 가볍습니다.

두 세계의 장점을 결합한 MalCare는 다음과 같은 이유로 최고의 선택입니다.

• 100개 이상의 스마트 신호로 정밀 스캔
• 서버 부하 제로
• 정확한 멀웨어를 찾아내고 악성 코드를 간단하게 제거하거나 치료할 수 있도록 합니다.
• 다양한 스캔 옵션 – 자동 및 주문형
• 계속 발전하는 학습 알고리즘
• 오경보 없음
• 자동 청소 및 자동 수리 기능 내장
• 무제한 스캔 및 청소

결국 다른 보안 플러그인이 설치되어 있더라도 MalCare를 선택하는 것이 좋습니다. MalCare는 다른 플러그인이 존재하지 않는 것처럼 작동합니다.

MalCare의 작동 방식과 Malware Scanner가 강력한 이유 읽기

가격:$99/년부터 시작

지금 MalCare 구입

#2 워드펜스

Wordfence는 지금까지 WordPress 보안을 위한 가장 인기 있는 옵션 중 하나입니다. Wordfence도 맬웨어 검사를 처리하는 방식에 몇 가지 문제가 있지만 이 거대 기업의 기능에도 장점이 있습니다.

• 서버 기반 스캔 기능
• 맬웨어 서명 업데이트 및 검사
• 스캔 깊이, 빈도 및 타이밍에 대한 전체 제어
• 모든 데이터베이스 및 파일에서 맬웨어 검사
• 웹사이트 평판 확인

두 번째 옵션으로 Wordfence를 권장합니다. 이미 Wordfence를 사용하고 있다면 꽤 안전할 수 있습니다. 그러나 Wordfence가 찾을 수 없는 위협이 있습니다. 인식하고 수동 해결이 필요한 잘못된 경보를 너무 많이 발생시킵니다.

무엇보다도 WordPress 사이트에 과부하가 걸리고 데이터베이스가 부풀려집니다. 간단히 말해서, 귀하의 사이트는 잠시 후 매우 느리게 실행되기 시작합니다.

우리는 Wordfence에 대한 존경심 외에는 아무 것도 없지만 MalCare는 언제든지 우리 책에서 더 나은 선택입니다. 재정적 투자를 하기 전에 왜 Wordfence를 2순위로 두었는지에 대해 조금 읽어보시기 바랍니다.

Wordfence의 작동 방식과 실패 위치에 대한 자세한 분석 읽기

가격: $99/년부터 시작

지금 Wordfence 구입

#3 수쿠리

Sucuri는 WordPress 보안 틈새 시장에서 가장 큰 이름 중 하나입니다. 그러나 무료 버전(Sucuri SiteCheck)은 매우 제한적입니다.

Sucuri SiteCheck가 처리할 수 있는 스캔은 서버 기반 스캐너와 함께 제공되는 프리미엄 버전으로 보완됩니다. 그러나 이미 Sucuri를 구입한 경우에만 Sucuri를 사용하는 것이 좋습니다. 실제로 그들의 스캐너는 제한적이며 거짓 경보를 꽤 많이 표시합니다.

우리는 또한 엔지니어들과 함께 Sucuri를 테스트했습니다. 우리는 이 메가 브랜드가 실제로 얼마나 실망했는지에 충격을 받았습니다.

서버 스캐너가 있는 프리미엄 버전도 매우 기본적인 악성코드를 포착하지 못합니다.

Sucuri에서 기대할 수 있는 것은 다음과 같습니다.

• 일반적으로 알려진 악성코드에 대한 빠른 검사
• 빠른 스캔을 위한 서명 스캔
• Googlebot을 에뮬레이션하여 특정 트리거로 숨겨진 멀웨어를 감지합니다.
• SSL 인증서 모니터링
• 자동 및 수동 스캔

Sucuri가 오랫동안 보안 플러그인 역할을 잘 해왔음을 부인할 수 없습니다. 그러나 시대는 변하고 있습니다.

맬웨어는 더 이상 예전처럼 단순하지 않습니다.

Sucuri는 단순히 시대에 뒤떨어져 따라잡을 수 없는 것처럼 보입니다.

Sucuri를 유일한 보안 수단으로 사용하는 것은 권장하지 않습니다. 사실 Sucuri의 Premium 버전의 가격대를 고려하면 MalCare로 전환하는 것이 좋습니다.

Sucuri가 작동하는 방식과 실패하는 이유에 대한 자세한 분석 읽기

가격: $199/년부터 시작

지금 Sucuri 구매 (권장하지 않음)

#4 iThemes 보안

비교하기 위해 가져온 4가지 플러그인 중 iThemes가 목록에서 마지막입니다. 이것은 단순히 iThemes에 자체 보안 알고리즘이 없기 때문입니다. Sucuri SiteCheck의 API를 사용하여 보안 스캐너를 제공합니다.

iThemes의 유일한 장점은 Sucuri의 알고리즘이 탑재되어 있다는 것입니다. 그러나 서버 기반 스캐너의 깊이가 부족한 Sucuri의 무료 스캐너 만 사용하기 때문에 그조차도 실패합니다.

요약: iThemes 보안을 사용하지 않는 것이 좋습니다.

iThemes 보안의 한계를 이해하기 위한 자세한 분석 읽기

가격: $80/년부터 시작

해커로부터 사이트를 보호하는 것은 단지 필요한 것이 아닙니다. 보안은 사업주로서의 기본 권리입니다. 그리고 당신은 최고만을 받을 자격이 있습니다.

구매하려는 보안 솔루션은 얼마나 안전합니까? 당신이 그것에 쓰는 돈의 가치가 있습니까? 플러그인을 사용하는 사람 수만으로 플러그인을 믿어야 할까요?

이것이 이 기사의 나머지 부분에서 설명하는 내용입니다.

저희를 신뢰해야 하는 이유

우리는 MalCare입니다. 사이버 보안 전문가 및 WordPress 보안의 실질적인 변화에 관심을 갖고 있는 WordPress 개발자 팀입니다.

오늘 우리는 4가지 최고의 맬웨어 스캐너를 비교할 것입니다.

• iThemes 보안
• 수쿠리
• 워드펜스
• MalCare

우리는 이러한 플러그인의 작동 방식과 각 플러그인이 어디에서 제한될 수 있는지에 대해 자세히 알아볼 것입니다. WordPress 엔지니어 팀은 WordPress 보안 분야의 주요 전문가로 구성되어 있습니다.

우리는 함께 이 목록에 있는 다른 세 개와 같은 존경을 받을 자격이 있음을 증명하기 위해 플러그인을 비교하는 이 연습을 했습니다.

최고의 WordPress 맬웨어 스캐너를 얻는 데 관심을 가져야 하는 이유는 무엇입니까?

사용자가 100만 명에 달하는 플러그인이 최고 아닌가요?

젠장, 안돼! 이것은 모두가 영원히 잘못 알고 있는 것입니다.

실제로 WordPress 보안을 이해하는 사람은 거의 없습니다.

왜?

단순함 – 대부분의 사람들은 다음과 같이 생각합니다.

• 필수 사항은 아닙니다. 누가 내 사이트를 해킹하려고 합니까?
• 너무 기술적입니다. 괴짜만 알 수 있습니다.
• 너무 방대한 주제 - 하루아침에 전문가가 될 수 없습니다.
• 지루합니다. 판매량이 증가하는 것을 지켜보는 것만큼 멋진 일은 아닙니다.

하지만 현실은 다음과 같습니다.

• 재무 데이터를 훔치는 것만이 해커의 관심은 아닙니다. 오늘날 귀하의 사이트가 해킹을 당할 수 있으며 일부 해커는 귀하가 깨닫지 못하는 사이에 사이트를 100가지 다른 방식으로 오용할 수 있습니다.
  
• WordPress 보안을 이해하기 위해 선의의 코더가 되거나 보안에 대한 모든 기사를 읽을 필요는 없습니다. 당신이 알아야 할 것은 당신을 보호하고 위험한 상황에서 회복하기 위한 최상의 솔루션을 선택하는 방법뿐입니다.
  
• 판매량은 확실히 초점을 맞춰야 합니다. 보안을 통해 안전하고 건전하게 도착할 수 있습니다. 해커는 전체 트래픽을 훔칠 수 있는 맬웨어를 사이트에 배치할 수 있습니다. 또는 Google에서 블랙리스트에 올리십시오. 보안 플러그인이 필요한 부분입니다.

보안 회사가 소비자에게 실제 위험과 위협에 대해 교육하기 위해 의식적인 노력을 기울이지 않고 단지 몇 푼의 추가 수입을 올리는 것은 우리를 슬프게 합니다.

그렇기 때문에 가장 중요한 질문부터 시작하겠습니다.

멀웨어란 무엇입니까?

사이트가 해킹되면 해커는 다양한 방법으로 사이트를 손상시킬 수 있습니다. 해커가 하는 가장 일반적인 행위 중 하나는 악성코드를 설치하는 것입니다.

“맬웨어는 일반적으로 악성 활동을 수행하기 위해 시스템 리소스를 악용하는 코드로 가장 잘 설명될 수 있습니다. 즉, 멀웨어는 웹사이트에 침투하여 잘 보이지 않는 곳에 숨어 조직적으로 비즈니스에 해를 끼치는 코드입니다."

<인용>
Akshat Choudhary, MalCare CEO

다음은 대부분의 맬웨어의 문제입니다.

기술자가 아니면 사이트가 감염되었는지 이해하는 것이 불가능합니다. 귀하의 사이트는 코드로 구성되어 있습니다. 맬웨어는 코드 조각입니다. It’s like looking for a needle in a pile of other needles.

Take a look for yourself:

Hard to understand for non-techies, right? Wait till you see the next one:

Yikes!

What’s even worse is that even if you are a coder, it’s challenging to find malware manually. WordPress sites have piles of code and the malware could be literally anywhere on your site.

Hackers who install malware usually take extra care to make sure that it’s hidden completely from view.

Typically, malware infects:

• Files
  • Core files
  • Theme/plugin files
  • Existing plugin/theme
  • New/fake plugin theme
  • Uploads
  • wp-content
  • New folder
  • Outside WordPress folder
  • Existing files/New file
    • PHP
    • JS
    • Htaccess file
    • wp-config.php
    • Or any other file
• Database
  • Typically in posts/postmeta tables
  • Sometimes in options table
  • In rare cases in any part of database

In short: Malware can infect any file or database that is on your website. Take a look:

Typically, you’re looking at damage such as:

• A hidden backdoor that makes it seem that the site is not hacked at all. Typically PHP code that allows a hacker to access a hacked site at any time.
• SEO content such as links to illicit websites in spammy comments.
• Redirect visitors (all/some/random/Google) to illicit websites.
• Serve viruses to visitors’ computers using Javascript.
• Javascript malware that steals credit card info from a WooCommerce webstore.

Over the course of this article we are going to break down the most important aspects of any WordPress security scanner plugin and help you find the best fit for your website.

Let’s dive right in.

What to Expect from WordPress Malware Scanners ?

One of the most important features in any security plugin is the malware scanner. The depth and intelligence of your scanner is what makes your site secure.

At the same time, a good scanner will pinpoint exactly where the problem areas are and how to clean up the site. But that’s a property associated with cleaners and not scanners.

What is a Malware Scanner?

The simplest way to put it is that a malware scanner scans files and databases on your WordPress website and finds malware that you can’t otherwise find manually.

The whole point and purpose of a malware scanner is to look for vulnerabilities in your site and spot the parts that have been compromised.

For the techies:

A WordPress malware scanner is a plugin that can be used to scan any WordPress website for:

• Malicious code
• Hidden iframes
• Vulnerability exploits
• Infected files
• Other suspicious activities

After performing an in-depth investigation the malware scanner reports infected files, vulnerabilities, and blacklisting status so that you can clean it up.

Why Is a Malware Scanner Important for Your Business?

If you’re new to the world of WordPress security, using a malware scanner will be unchartered territory to you.

There are many ways to improve WordPress Security. But there is no foolproof way of protecting a site from getting hacked. We feel that it’s important to be the first to know when your site gets hacked. It is important to discover that your business is under attack before Google does and bans your site.

You need the best WordPress malware scanner to identify threats even before they start causing any damage at all.

But no amount of preventive measures can fully secure any website. There will always be new vulnerabilities and exploits that your existing security won’t be able to defend against.

Having a malware scanner will help you determine if some malware has slipped past your defences.

Not Every WordPress Snag Is a Hack

Think of the panic that hits you every time WordPress behaves even a little bit weirdly. The first thing that you think of is that your site has been hacked.

The thing is:

WordPress behaves abnormally on many instances even if your site isn’t hacked.

Defuse that fear and paranoia by installing a malware scanner. This way, you’ll be able to get in front of the situation and start debugging.

Wait, what?

You’re looking for the best WordPress malware scanner for your site?

OK, then!

Let’s take a quick look at how a security plugin’s malware scanner works.

We’ll leave it to you to pick one. But we’re also giving you our honest opinion.

P.S. – If your site has been hacked and you’re looking for a full cleanup, then you should read about how to use the scanner and use cleanup options before you get into the other details.

When Should You Use a Malware Scanner?

Short Answer: Always.

The malware scanner in your security plugin should always be scanning for threats throughout your website. But with most scanners, you can set the scan depth along with the schedule of the scan. This is mainly done to preserve server resources and plan for scans ahead of time.

If you installed the plugin for the first time on your site, then you should definitely go for a full site scan immediately. This will help you get a clear picture of your website’s health. Most scanners will offer an automatic scan on installation and it’s highly recommended that you take them.

After the initial scan and cleanup, you should ideally set up a powerful firewall and keep the scanner scheduled for regular scans.

P.S. – This is true no matter what plugin you go for. You should always have a clear picture of your website’s health.

What Should You Expect from a Malware Scanner?

A malware scanner can give you a bunch of useless information just to make it “look cool” or make you feel justified in spending money on nonsense.

We’re drilling down to the features that you absolutely need in a malware scanner:

• Hack Status: A scanner will find the hack before Google does and blacklists your site. A malware scanner needs to fire a warning as soon as your site is infected.
  
• Pinpoint the Malware: A hacker can install malware virtually anywhere on your site. A good malware scanner will pinpoint exactly which files and databases are infected.
  
• Severity/Impact of the Infection: What kind of harm is the infection causing? What does it mean for your business? Is it a common malware or a rare one?
  
• The Difficulty of Resolution: Is it easy to clean the infected files from your website? Does that require any additional access protocols? What happens to the site after the cleanup?
  
• One-Click Cleanup Options: What can you do to make the cleanup process as simple as possible? Do you need some access credentials to access the cleaner from the scanner? Does the scanner even come with a cleaner?
  
• Ways to Prevent it in the Future: What can you do to secure your site after the cleanup so that this doesn’t become a recurring problem? What are the chances that your site gets infected by the same malware again?

How to Use a Malware Scanner on Your WordPress Site?

Ideally, you want to be able to use a malware scanner with no added action. From the moment you install the plugin, it should be up and running in the background so that you get a clear report ASAP.

You should also have access to a cleaner that will help you take clear action.

We’ll walk you through Wordfence, Sucuri, and MalCare.

Let’s take a look at each in turn.

How to Scan for Malware Using Wordfence?

For Wordfence, you simply sign into the dashboard and click the ‘Launch Scan’ button:

That’s pretty much it. Before you start scanning, you have to setup the plugin on your WordPress website, though.

How to Use Sucuri to Scan for Malware?

For Sucuri, you want to login to the dashboard and click on ‘Enable Scanner’ before anything else.

This will allow you to connect the site via FTP/SFTP:

That’s pretty much it:

You keep getting automated scans as you go.

How to Use MalCare to Scan for WordPress Malware?

For MalCare, you want to:

Sign In>> Click on ‘Sites’ on the top menu bar>> Select the site you want to scan>> Head over to the ‘Security’ section>> Click on the ‘Details’ button.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll see this screen:

Click on ‘Scan Site’ and you’re done!

Just a heads up:MalCare automatically scans your website once a day even if you don’t scan manually.

How Do Malware Scanners Work?

There are two ways in which malware scanners typically work:

• Plugin-based Server Scanners
• Remote Scanners

Both of these have very different approaches to malware scanning along with their unique pros and cons.

But in essence, both types try to achieve the same end goal – scan your website and find if it has been hacked. But they do it in very different ways and have completely opposite approaches to security.

For instance, the scanner may find malicious scripts that redirect your website traffic to another site without your permission or knowledge. It may also find files that have been edited to carry out malicious activities.

Let’s take a look at each in turn:

Plugin-Based Server Scanners

Plugin-based server scanners will go through the servers with full access from the server. This means that they have the ability to do really deep searches to identify problems even in site performance.

The downside is that they tend to hog a lot of server resources. This ultimately slows down your website’s speed and can burn a hole in your budget for using server resources that are billed based on usage.

Remote Scanners

Remote scanners mostly use cloud technology to scan websites and look for malware. The biggest advantage of using a remote scanner is that it exerts almost zero database bloat and negligible server load.

Typically, a remote scanner sends a request to the homepage of the site. It then scans the HTML elements, Javascript files, and content for known malware infections and anomalies against a huge database of known malware signatures.

Remote scanners have limited access to your website and server. Most remote scanners only look into the code that is visible on the browsers. But most malware aren’t that visible. In fact, most malware infects files and databases which cannot be seen by browsers.

This is not really ideal for security. However, the scanner operates on a cloud server instead of your servers. So, the load is significantly lower than the plugin-based scanners. As a result, the site operates smoothly and the scanner keeps running without affecting the performance at all.

Now that you understand a little more about what a malware scanner is and why you need it, it’s time to compare the top dogs in the WordPress security market.

Why We Avoid iThemes Security Like the Plague ?

iThemes Security simply licences uses Sucuri Sitecheck’s API to scan for known malware. It does not have its own tech to scan for malware.

Being a plugin scanner would have given it a lot of depth into each of its scans. However, the plugin uses a remote scanner to detect malware and does not have any of the advantages of Wordfence or MalCare.

So, it might be a better idea to get right into Sucuri and how it works.

Why Sucuri Was a Severe Disappointment ?

There are security plugins that use both types of malware scanners. For instance, Sucuri offers a cloud-based scanner called SiteCheck for free and a plugin-based server scanner with its premium version to complement SiteCheck.

Sucuri SiteCheck typically sends a request to the homepage to check the content against known signatures – this could be any content and not just comments. It also emulates Googlebot to try and understand if there is any malware that caters only to Google traffic.

Here’s how Sucuri SiteCheck works:

• Visit the homepage and crawl all the links, javascript files, and iframes present on it
• Check 8-10 of these links and visit them using different user agents and referrers
• Extract and scan all javascript files and iframes
• Check the links for malware against a database of known malware signatures
• Compare the results for different referrers and user agents to check for hidden malware
• Revisit the home page as Googlebot and reiterate this process
• Check the blacklisting status against blacklisting agencies such as Google and Norton

In short, if the malware doesn’t render anything on your browser, then Sucuri SiteCheck won’t be able to see it. The real pride and joy of Sucuri SiteCheck is really their signature matching database.

Now, signature matching is based on historical data and it can’t recognize new malware, which is a huge problem.

Also, it only sees malware that affects HTML. This is flawed because the vast majority of malware do not manifest themselves in the HTML. In fact, most malware manifests itself in either the files or the database of WordPress.

The bottom line is that: Sucuri SiteCheck fails to spot almost all major malware that is even slightly complex in nature. It also does nothing to take action and repair hacked files.

Why We Feel that Wordfence Tries Hard, Means Well, But Fails ?

Wordfence takes the hardliner stance of only being a plugin-based server scanner. It has full access to your site and has clear visibility of all your files and your database.

This automatically means that it can offer a deeper scan than any remote scanner out there. But is that necessarily a good thing?

Here’s how Wordfence works:

• Wordfence scans the WordPress core files and checks if it has been modified. WordPress is open-source software. So, anyone can compare to see if the contents of the files have been changed from the original files.
• Wordfence also checks theme and plugin files against the WordPress repository
• Wordfence also goes for signature scanning against known malware.
• Wordfence then looks for certain keywords in the code such as BASE64DECODE or EVAL and marks the code as malware.

But what does this mean?

Checking Core Files

Checking the core WordPress files is a step beyond what you get from Sucuri SiteCheck. This can find a lot of hacked files that might have been hacked because of an older version of WordPress.

On the surface, this seems to give Wordfence the edge.

But managed hosting services and WordPress installations in languages other than English often have different core files. For instance, Flywheel modifies wp-settings.php for improved functionality. This mismatch leads to Wordfence raising a false alarm.

Checking Theme and Plugin Files

Wordfence can look at public plugins and themes and check against the WP repository. It’s the exact same thing as checking the core files against a repository. Naturally, it has the same drawbacks for checking plugin and theme files.

• For premium themes, there is nothing to compare against as the files are privately held.
• Custom or child themes will have a different set of files that Wordfence won’t be able to recognize.
• Premium plugins may have the same directory structure as the free version but with added or modified files.

All these will trigger false alarms from Wordfence.

In fact, here’s a popular example:

Different coding languages can have different syntaxes and grammar for something as simple as the new line feed.

But Wordfence doesn’t see what was modified – only that the files were modified and raises an alarm. In other words, if a new file is created it does not know if the file is good or bad.

Is that the extent of Wordfence’s protection?

No.

It checks the signature, remember?

Checking Known Malware Signature

A signature is essentially a piece of code that forms the bedrock of the malware. But there is an infinite number of signatures that may exist. So, it misses the right signature quite often.

Signature checking is even more complex for JS because signatures are a lot more difficult to curate or even develop in Javascript.

The worst part is that certain signatures can be part of good code or bad code. Again, Wordfence fails to understand the overall code and can end up flagging even benign code as malware.

Checking for Keywords

Keywords can certainly help narrow down the search for known malware.

But the problem is: Those keywords are present in normal code also. The mere presence of the keyword proves absolutely nothing. Also, there are lots of malware that don’t use keywords.

Checking the Database

But enough about files. Let’s tell you a little bit about the database.

The way signature matching works is something like this:

• Load all known signatures on the website database
• Keep sending database queries to check for matching signatures
• Save the results of each database query in the database

As a result, your database will get bloated. Also, most decent managed WordPress hosting providers will charge you based on the resources consumed by your site.

So, you will end up with a slower website and pay a lot more for a slow site while you use Wordfence. This is a classic example of replacing a problem with another problem.

For these exact reasons, it offers four different scanning options based on the depth of the scan. If you have limited resources, then you should opt for the “Limited Scan” type. But then, you end up having a very superficial check.

The bottom line is that: Wordfence is that overhyped WordPress security plugin that fails to catch complex threats and cries wolf all too often. The plugin not only has some gaping holes in its security logic, but also slows your website down.

Why MalCare’s Scanner is Way Better than the “Industry Leaders “?

MalCare which takes a unique approach and brings you the best of both worlds. Because we started much later in the game than most industry leaders, we already knew exactly what they were doing wrong and how we could do better.

Hybrid Scanning WordPress site

MalCare syncs your website with its own servers and creates a copy of it. It then scans each file in the copy that it creates. This way, you get the depth of a plugin-based scanner with no load on your website because of the remote scanning.

Why MalCare Uses Its Own Servers?

On our servers, we can run more complex algorithms than any other plugins in the market with 100+ security signals. We can do this because it’s on our servers and not yours.

Our servers are dedicated to running some pretty powerful algorithms.

If you run the same scanner on your WordPress site, it will slow down quite a bit. But since we do it exclusively on our servers, you get none of the baggage and all of the benefits!

How Does MalCare Detect Malware?

A signal can be as simple as the time when a file was modified. This alone is simply suspicious and we use it as a red flag to examine against other signals. We typically check how often the signal occurs on our network of 200,000+ sites for a better understanding.

MalCare has a learning system running that keeps getting smarter to pinpoint the most complex malware with zero false positives and high accuracy.

Let’s give you an example of how we do things better any other WordPress malware scanner in the market:

Since different versions of plugins exist, most plugins update/modify the files without updating the version.

This confuses plugins such as Wordfence.

Since Wordfence spots and flags false positives too often, you will get inundated with alarms. Imagine if you were an agency with 20+ sites all running Wordfence!

Chances are, you’ll simply start ignoring the alarms after a while because it’s a tiresome job monitoring all the malware alerts that aren’t even a real threat.

And when you get infected by a real malware, chances are that you’ll either ignore that threat too or take at least a week to resolve it.

The bottom line is: MalCare only raises an alarm only when something is wrong. So, when we send you a notification, you KNOW there’s a real threat to your site.

We scan the site once a day and send an alarm on email or Slack only when something is really wrong with your site. This way, you get notified of malicious activities before the hosting service or Google blacklists you or before the hacker does major damage to your site audience.

The best part is that MalCare gives you a one-click option to clean up your site. But that’s a whole other story.

The Final Verdict

We took on this project to decide for ourselves exactly what our competitors are doing. What we realized was that our team is in the right direction. Our network of 200,000+ websites exists because of the work we put into making MalCare the most powerful WordPress security plugin there is.

The outcome?

We can say with 100% certainty that MalCare not only serves the most important features in WordPress security but also skips the B.S. to provide real security. You know, the kind that helps our clients sleep better at night.

So, if you’re worried that Wordfence picked up on some malware that MalCare didn’t, chances are that it’s a false alarm.

Take a moment to try out our free malware scanner on your website. You may very well save your business from a hacker.

We mean it when we say that we protect your businesses. Let us do it for you.

P.S.:Have questions? Check out our FAQs page. If that sounds like a chore, talk to our amazing support team instead. We’re happy that you took the time to read our thoughts.