WordPress is considered as the most attacked CMS in the world. Partly because of its huge market share and partly because WordPress website owners are still at sea about WordPress security rules and the services.
But, if you’ve been weighing security solutions for your WordPress website, this article might help you out with your search.
Today we are reviewing a security solution called “Astra Security Suite”, that would not only secure your website from prevailing security risks but also simplify it to the most intuitive level so that you wouldn’t go cold and numb at the mention of implementing security to your WP website again.
Astra Security Suite has emerged as a viable and trusted security solution in recent times and cuts through the clutter of complex and tangling WordPress security plugins/solutions.
It offers a complete security suite for WordPress which consists of:
- A comprehensive Web Application Firewall,
- Malware Scanner,
- Malware Removal,
- Country & IP blocker,
- Bug Bounty and so on.
I tried Astra for a month on my website and this is all I have to say about it.
Before we get into the plugin, let’s first understand why WordPress websites are so vulnerable.
Why is WordPress security twisted?
You can build a website in less than 3 minutes with WordPress. This makes WordPress the first choice for most people who want to take their ideas online without much hassle. But, while it may be fairly easy to get a website up with WordPress, WordPress security is not exactly a cakewalk. This is why 70% of all WP websites remain vulnerable to cyber attacks.
No idea where to start from
Webmasters are clueless about the simplest security rules and configurations. And it’s not their fault, security rules are perceived somewhat complex by most common folk.
Consistency keeps getting lost
Then there is the issue of being consistent with habitual maintenance, which almost always gets lost somewhere on the road.
Too many plugins to choose from
WordPress has a plethora of security plugins. You’ll find plugins for the smallest of security jobs. Say to change the database name, admin URL, and so on. But having so many options eventually results in indecisiveness or it leads to cluttering of the backend with so many plugins. Another downside of having a separate plugin for a separate task is that you’ll unknowingly end up introducing more potential risk areas to your website.
All in all, the WordPress security scene is quite messed up.
We also tried to reason out why WordPress websites are so vulnerable to attacks and we came down to these:
- Being an open-source environment
- Allowing third-party integrations
- Ill-maintained plugins and extensions
- Unaware webmasters
So we know, WordPress websites are at risk, more so than others and we know WordPress security is not convenient for everyone.
How Astra Security Suite Solves the problem?
Astra WordPress Security, also called Astra Security Suite, is a web security suite that takes care of everything security for your WordPress website. Right from a firewall to a malware scanner to country & IP blockers, to file upload rules, bug bounty, everything is bundled in the security suite that Astra is.
So you need not install a hundred plugins to secure one website. You need just one. Astra. Astra Security Suite takes care of it all for you.
The Astra firewall monitors and protects your website 24*7, without fail. If you’re hacked and need help, Astra’s expert security team will resolve the issue from the cause in less than 4 hours.
Astra Reviews (Trustpilot & Capterra)
Being a responsible and aware WP webmaster I did my background check before going ahead and installing Astra Security Suite on my website.
What I found in that research is what I am sharing here, so that you can skip this process.
Astra Security has over 5k downloads on WordPress and has 99% 5-star ratings in top company rating websites – Trustpilot, Capterra, G2, and so on.
Customers have made their propensity obvious towards the plugin in using terms like – “effective”, “value for money”, “super-fast support”, and so on.
Astra Security review (Source: Trustpilot)
Astra Security review (Source: Trustpilot)
Looked all good till now.
Who can benefit from this plugin?
Any WordPress website owner who wishes to cut short the manual work in their website security regime shall like Astra.
Astra takes care of your website and automates the process at the same time. So you do not have to do much except configuring it and be protected at all times.
If you’d rather indulge in long painstaking hours of tinkering with website security, you can totally skip this blog.
What’s Included?
These are some of the features you’d get in Astra Security:
WAF (Web Application Firewall) & Malware Scanner
Firewall
A website firewall monitors the traffic inflow to your website.
With Astra firewall, you’ll get 24*7 real-time website monitoring for attacks like SQLi, XSS, CSRF, RFI/LFI & 100+ other attack types. This is how the Astra dashboard looks like:
The comprehensible reporting and analytics provided by this firewall are particularly a highlight.
This lets you know how many attacks your website dodged, what type of attack your website suffers the most, where does it come from, IPs of attackers, etc.
Moreover, the email reports keep you abreast of the happenings on your website even if you are logged out of the dashboard.
Besides the ones listed above, other attacks the Astra firewall protect against are:
- Code Injection protection
- Bad bots blocking
- Directory traversal protection
- Automatic blocking of known hackers
- Layer 7 DDoS protection
- Smart honeypot system to trap hackers
- Rate limit web requests
- Automatic spam blocking
- Content stealing & scraping prevention
- Preventing spam comments
This firewall is also unique in the sense that it keeps evolving with the attacks. It detects attack patterns and blocks them in advance to protect your website.
Malware scanner
Moving on to the Astra malware scanner.
Hackers are shrewd. They are always on the lookout for some missed security rule to break into your website. For most websites, these intrusions go unnoticed till it is too late.
It is, hence, important to scan your website regularly to detect intrusions as they take place. A malware scanner is a tool you need for that.
Astra’s on-demand malware scanner lets you scan your website round the clock. There’s also an option to schedule scans so that you do not remember to start a scan every time.
Report of the malware scan is sent to you through email and is rendered on the dashboard as well as shown in the picture below.
Another striking feature about this malware scanner is that you can also delete malicious files from within the Astra dashboard, in a way cleaning your website with a click.
Malware flagged by Astra’s malware scanner
You can also review the flagged changes in your server files with its View File Difference feature before removing the file.
View File Difference feature in Astra malware scanner
Further, you can customize this scanner to meet your business’s requirements. For instance, if you need to exempt a file from scanning you can do that. You can also exempt specific characters or pages from getting scanned. Also, bring them back under the scanner when you need them to get scanned.
VAPT (Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing)
Existing vulnerabilities inside your web system and extensions are one of the biggest causes of cyber attacks on WordPress websites. These vulnerabilities not only make your website an easy target but also keeps reinfecting it.
Protecting your website with a firewall and a malware scanner might turn out to be futile attempts if your website is not free from vulnerabilities.
A full security audit of your website, which includes a thorough scanning of your code, extension, configurations, access points, payment gateways, network devices, and so on to detect weak and vulnerable points in your website.
Astra does that pretty impressively. In fact, Astra is the industry leader at it.
Under Astra’s VAPT program, Astra security experts search your website for existing vulnerabilities and loopholes that can be at the bottom of all hacks your website experiences or can be potentially exploited in the future.
A security audit by Astra is done in accordance with the global security standards such as – OWASP, SANS, CERT, PCI, ISO27001. Over 1250+ tests (automated and manual) make the results more precise and accurate in uncovering all underlying vulnerabilities.
Here are a few tests included in the VAPT program:
- Static & dynamic code analysis
- Business logic error testing
- Payment gateway testing
- Network configuration tests
- Server Infrastructure Testing & DevOps
- Test for known CVEs and so on.
The VAPT by Astra comes in three different plans: Basic, Expert, Elite. It is also included in two of its ‘Suite’ plans: the Advanced and the Business plans.
The vulnerability reporting and dashboard make Astra’s VAPT stand out. Here’s what Astra’s VAPT dashboard looks like:
How does it work?
The Astra WordPress Security suite installs as a plugin (like any other WP plugin). You can get the Astra plugin either from the WP plugins directory or from their official website, where it would be downloaded as a zip file after signing up of course. This zip file is to be uploaded to your WP backend and ASTRA would render on the left bottom panel of your wp-admin panel.
If you are downloading it from the WP plugin repository you might also require to connect your backend to their API which would open dashboard access from your backend as well. All this takes less than 5 minutes and is self-configurable even if you are not so tech-savvy.
To make sure Astra doesn’t bloat your WP backend, it runs independently on its own dashboard.
What’s the Price?
Astra is a paid plugin. In a pool of freemium security plugins that claim to protect your website with cut-down features and half a service, Astra seems like an outstanding choice for a security tool.
Let’s face it — malware attacks (and their removals) are expensive. Investing in a good and efficient security solution is how you can ensure that your website/business doesn’t go through an ugly security mishap.
That said, the Astra Security suite comes in three different plans: Pro, Advanced and Business. Each plan has its own benefits as listed below. If you’re looking for preventive security you can also go for their monthly plans which offer a subscription to their security suite minus the malware clean-up and review. More details below.
Conclusion
Taking into consideration all the above points and my own experience, Astra Security Suite came out as a promising security plugin for my WordPress site. It also provides the same offerings for other CMSs such as Magento, Prestashop, Drupal & Joomla. Truly, Astra Security Suite has integrated a marvelous solution and made security a 5-minute affair. This intuitive security solution proved to be a great addition to my website’s security. Their tech support and sales team came out to be remarkable. When we had queries to ask, there was always someone to help. In its offerings, Astra Security really stands out.