Security
WordPress and database services carry a set of security sections on the service page.
Traffic & Threat Activity. A chart of requests and blocked threats for the last 6, 24 or 48 hours.
Protection Controls. Toggles, applied to the site as soon as you switch them:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Web Application Firewall | Blocks common exploits. WAF Mode chooses Prevention (blocks) or Detection (logs only) |
| Rate Limit Login Page | Slows brute-force attempts on the login page |
| XML-RPC Protection | Blocks the WordPress XML-RPC endpoint |
| Bot Filtering | Blocks known scanners and malicious bots. Manage bot list adds your own patterns |
| Block Headless Browsers | Blocks automated browsers. This can affect uptime monitors |
| Auto IP Blocking | Enforces your IP blocklist at the edge |
Top Targeted Endpoints, Top Client IPs and HTTP Status Breakdown show what is being requested and by whom.
IP Blocklist. Click + Block IP, enter the address and an optional label, and click Add. Unblock removes an entry.
Active Findings. Click Scan Now to probe the site for common security issues. Results list severity, type, description and the file or path involved.
Security Events. Firewall and protection events for the last hour up to seven days. Click a row for the full details.
Press Mage SiteGuard
WordPress sites also carry Press Mage SiteGuard: multi-layer malware and integrity protection built into your hosting. SiteGuard scans your site's files from the Press Mage platform, so it does not depend on a WordPress security plugin being installed, switched on or uncompromised, and there is nothing to install or configure. Scans are read-only: a scan never changes or deletes anything on your site.
When it scans. Every night, with a full scan once a week. The scans in between are incremental: every scan walks all of your site's files, and Mage Sentinel and Mage Integrity check them all each time, while Mage Shield checks only files that are new or have changed since the previous scan. The weekly full scan runs Mage Shield over every file again. A site's first scan covers everything. Click Run SiteGuard Scan to scan now; the button reads Scanning… until the scan finishes. On-demand scans are limited to a few in a short period.
The three layers. Every scan runs all three:
| Layer | What it looks for |
|---|---|
| Mage Shield | Known Malware Detection: files that match known malware |
| Mage Sentinel | Advanced Threat Detection: suspicious code such as web shells, backdoors and injected code |
| Mage Integrity | WordPress Integrity Monitoring: unexpected changes to WordPress files |
Themes, plugins and uploads are always scanned. When the site's WordPress core files come from the platform rather than from your site, the card notes that they are not part of the Mage Integrity check.
The SiteGuard card. On the service page, the Press Mage SiteGuard card has a status badge (Not scanned yet, Scanning…, No Malware Detected, Review, High Risk, Critical, Scan error or SiteGuard off) and four tiles:
- Protection status: No Malware Detected, Potential Security Issues, High-Risk Findings or Critical Findings, with the number of open findings or Nothing needs your attention.
- Last scan and Next scan (Nightly, with a full scan weekly).
- Files examined, and whether the last scan was a full or incremental scan.
Below them, one tile per layer shows a tick or its number of open findings, with a one-line result such as No known malware detected. The card then lists the top findings with their Weight, Layer, Detection rule, File and First seen. A site that has not been scanned yet says when its first scan will run, or asks you to press Run SiteGuard Scan. If SiteGuard has been switched off for the site, the card says so; contact support to have it switched back on.
Findings & history. The Findings & history link on the card, or SiteGuard Protection in the WordPress Hosting panel, opens the site's SiteGuard page:
- SiteGuard findings, filtered by Open, Resolved, False positive or Ignored. Each finding shows its risk weight, the layer that raised it, whether it is a Detection or a Review item, a description, the file path, and when it was first and last seen. Detection details shows the detection rule, the technical details of the detection and the matched content.
- Mark as expected is offered on review items: patterns that can be legitimate. The finding moves to Ignored and no longer counts towards your SiteGuard status; Press Mage can still see it.
- Request review opens a support ticket so the Press Mage team can look at the file, and shows the ticket number. A detection can only be cleared by Press Mage support, so use Request review for those. While a request is recent the finding shows Review open.
- Scan history lists every scan with when it started and finished, its type (full or incremental, and what started it), status, files examined, the findings from each layer, the result and how long it took. A queued scan reads Waiting for a scan slot.