Beyond Shield Security 7

With the successful launch of Shield Security 7, we’re looking ahead to building upon the foundation that the new Shield is providing.

Our switch to a more modern PHP codebase is helping to catalyse development, and the new UI is providing a solid framework into which to connect new features, and update existing ones.

This quick article is a bit of a look-ahead to what we’re planning to bring to Shield in the short-medium term. Something to whet your appetite a little, and ours.

Shield v7.1 – Better Import/Export

With the releases 7.0.1 – 7.0.4, we’ve focused on squashing a few minor bugs, while taking on some the feedback we’ve received since launching v7.

With v7.1, however, we’re releasing new, long-requested functionality.

The new feature will be import/export using file uploads and downloads.

Last year we thought we’d created the most amazing import/export system ever! We could see crowds flocking to the new, super-simple method of transferring settings automatically between sites, without the need for file downloads etc.

Alas, this wasn’t the case. And instead, we confused a lot of people.

Rather than providing tried-and-true method that folks have always used to export and import (i.e. file downloads and uploads) we created a brand new workflow.

Shield v7.1 will “fix” this, and now you’ll be able to download a full export of your Shield settings, which you can use to import directly into any other Shield installation.

You’ll still be able to import seamlessly from site-to-site as before, but now you’ll have 2 ways of achieving the same result.

Note: the import/export feature will be for Shield Pro subscribers only.

Shield v7.2 – A New Plugin Scanner

Based upon a recent support issue we faced, we’re bringing in a new plugin scanner.

This scanner serves a simple purpose: detection of WordPress.org plugins installed on your site that have been abandoned by their authors.

If a plugin hasn’t been updated for over 2 years, then you’ll be notified by the Shield scanner.

Abandoned plugins aren’t necessarily a security risk, but they can’t be good for your site either and represent a liability.

You can choose to ignore the notification, or act upon it, the choice is entirely yours.

Note: This scanner will be available for all Shield users, free & Pro.

Shield v7.3 – The Mouse Trap

We’re building a new module into Shield that we’re calling ‘MouseTrap’, for now.

Its purpose is simple: detect potentially nefarious bots based on their behaviour on your site. In some cases it’ll lay out a bit of cheese to trick a bot (hence the name, MouseTrap).

This module will also form the foundation of our new 3rd Party integrations, such as Contact Form 7.

We’ve received reports that the reCAPTCHA v3 in Contact Form 7 is causing some SPAM trouble, so we’ll be bringing a new integration to help with this.

Note: This new module will be primarily a Pro-only feature.

Shield v7.4 and beyond, and having your say

We haven’t fixed the features for Shield 7.4 and beyond, but we have some ideas based on how we see things progressing.

If you would like to have your say on this, please take a look here and vote/suggest as you desire: https://shieldsecurity.nolt.io/