Malware Scanner and Vulnerability Scanner Tools for WordPress

The Best Malware Scanner and Vulnerability Scanner Tools for WordPress

To test the vulnerabilities of a WordPress installation, use Malware Scanner and Vulnerability Scanner Tools. Application security, WordPress plugins, hosting environment, and web server are all checked. Get a high-level overview of the security posture of any WordPress-based site.

Malware (short for “malicious software”) is a file or code that infects, examines, steals, or performs nearly any function an attacker desires. Malware is often supplied through a network. And, because malware comes in so many different forms, there are a variety of ways to infect computers.

However, when we utilize numerous plugins, themes, and sometimes even hosting, we expose our WordPress website to many types of attacks and hacks by following security best practices.

Hackers frequently hack a WordPress site for personal benefit, which commonly takes the form of adding bogus backlinks or diverting the site to other sites. Sometimes it’s done so well that you have no idea you’ve been hacked or that a backdoor has been planted on your website.

Malware is the greatest dread of any WordPress site owner.

Malware on your site may cause a variety of problems, including losing SEO ranks, having data stolen or leaked, being included on Google’s “Unsafe Sites” list (which bans your site in Chrome), and many others.

It’s critical to check your WordPress site for malware and follow other WordPress security best practices to avoid this from happening to you.

Malware can cause a lot of problems, but if you know how to stop it and find it, you can stop most of them from happening and catch problems quickly so they don’t do long-term damage to your site.

In this piece, I’ll show you how to use six WordPress malware scanners to detect harmful files on your site and/or scan it for vulnerabilities.

If you use these scanners along with other WordPress security tips, you can be sure that your site is safe and free of malware.

Six of the Best Malware Scanners and Vulnerability Checkers for WordPress

I’ll share six WordPress malware and vulnerability scanners with you:

Wordfence
MalCare
Jetpack Scan
Sucuri SiteCheck
Cerber Security
WPScan

1. Wordfence

Wordfence offers a built-from-the-ground-up endpoint firewall and malware scanner to secure WordPress. A Threat Defence Feed is a set of weapons that we use to defend against threats. Wordfence

The most popular WordPress security plugin is Wordfence. Its firewall is one of its most noticeable security features, but it also comes with comprehensive virus detection as part of the package (along with many other security features).

From your WordPress dashboard, you can run a virus scan. This will look at all of the files on your server.

The free Wordfence plugin has all of the malware scanning functions, but there is one significant drawback: the malware identification signatures are 30 days behind. Real-time malware signatures are required if you want access to real-time malware signatures (to identify zero-day vulnerabilities). With the premium edition, you can also get firewall rules that work in real-time, which are also delayed in the free version.

As part of its scan, Wordfence will also check for other WordPress security vulnerabilities, such as out-of-date themes and plugins or weak passwords.

One thing to keep in mind concerning Wordfence is that it might have a little speed impact because it scans your server’s files (some tools use a different approach). If you use Wordfence, make sure to only scan for malware when your site isn’t getting a lot of traffic. Otherwise, you could hurt your site’s performance during peak times.

Overall, Wordfence is the most popular WordPress security plugin and vulnerability scanner, with more than four million active installations and a 4.7-star rating based on more than 3,600 reviews.

To begin, the price is zero.The paid edition costs $99. It includes real-time malware and firewall signature rules.

2. MalCare

MalCare Firewall Security protects your site from bot assaults while keeping your WordPress site up and running. It keeps track of bots on a worldwide scale without ever overburdening your server.

MalCare is a WordPress security plugin and malware scanner developed by the same company that created the successful BlogVault WordPress backup service.

MalCare’s main distinguishing characteristic is that it does not really scan the files on your server. Therefore, it has no impact on the speed of your website. Instead, MalCare moves all of your site’s data to its own servers, where it executes the scan. This lets it fully scan your site without slowing it down.

It will perform this on autopilot every day to keep your site safe and spot problems as soon as they occur.

MalCare also enables malware removal and fixing with a single click if you have the commercial version. This is its second distinguishing feature: the ability to quickly and simply delete any virus it detects. A simple firewall and other security tools are also included.

MalCare offers a free site scan that will reveal whether or not you have any problems. On the other hand, the commercial version lets you see which files are infected and get rid of malware with just one click.

Basically, scanning your website for viruses is free. However, if it discovers something, you’ll have to pay to have it removed.

Price: There is a limited free version available. The annual fee for the premium version is $99 per year. On the $149 BlogVault Plus plan, you can acquire a bundle of BlogVault (for backups) and MalCare (for malware scanning).

3. Jetpack Scan (w/Backup)

Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, released Jetpack, a popular WordPress plugin. Many of the most powerful features of WordPress.com are now available on self-hosted WordPress sites thanks to the plugin. This greatly improves the quality of blogs and websites that use WordPress.

Jetpack is a collection of modules that enables developers to follow best practices, eliminate boilerplate code, and build code that works consistently across Android versions and devices, allowing them to focus on the code that matters to them.

Jetpack Scan is a tool in the popular Jetpack plugin made by Automattic, which is also behind WordPress.com and WooCommerce.

It’s connected with Jetpack Backup, allowing it to leverage MalCare’s off-site, performance-friendly scanning technique. Jetpack Backup backs up all of your site’s data to a safe off-site location every day. Then Jetpack Scan will do a malware scan on the backed-up version of your site, which will have no impact on the speed of your server.

If Jetpack Scan finds a problem, you’ll get an email notification right away, and you can solve it with a simple click.

It’s a little more pricey than other tools, but some individuals are willing to pay a premium for a product from one of the most well-known WordPress developers.

Jetpack Scan costs $25 per month on the Security Daily plan ($20 per month with yearly billing). Alternatively, you can buy Jetpack Scan and Backup Daily separately for $10 per month each ($20 total with a month-to-month subscription), which would save you some money.

4. Sucuri SiteCheck

Sucuri SiteCheck will scan a website for known malware, viruses, blacklisting status, website issues, out-of-date software, and harmful code if you provide a URL like example.com. Sucuri SiteCheck is a free website security scanner from Sucuri.

The Sucuri Site Check is a useful tool. It’s Better to Use TrustGuard Total Website Protection.

Trust Guard has been helping protect websites and their customers from hackers for more than 15 years. They offer full security at a reasonable price and help protect thousands of websites.

Sucuri SiteCheck, from the well-known online security company Sucuri, is a free malware scanner for WordPress.

You may either use the Sucuri SiteCheck website (by inputting your site’s URL) or the Sucuri Security plugin to check your site. After that, you’ll receive an overview of your site and whether Sucuri discovered any problems. It will also notify you whether your website is on any blacklists (like Google’s Unsafe Sites list).

Note that the free edition of the iThemes Security plugin also uses Sucuri SiteCheck for security screening, so that you may use this tool in many ways.

It’s simple to use, but there’s one major drawback: Sucuri SiteCheck only examines the files on your site’s front end. It does not, like Wordfence, MalCare, or Jetpack Scan, do a comprehensive scan of all files on your server.

So it can find a malware infection that is obvious on the front end of your site, but it can’t find a malicious file that is just sitting on the server of your site.

As long as you know this, Sucuri SiteCheck is a great tool for quickly figuring out if your site has any major malware problems.

Price: Free

5. Cerber Security

The Cerber Security Scanner is a complex and incredibly powerful programme that completely scans and inspects every folder and file on a website for malware, trojans, backdoors, modified and new files.

Cerber Security is yet another all-around security plugin for WordPress that has a special feature for finding malware.

First and foremost, with its firewall, it can harden your site and defend it from attackers. After that, you may perform a comprehensive virus check of all the files on your server to ensure nothing gets through.

Alternatively, you may conduct a “Quick Scan” that just looks at files having an executable extension. You may also do a “Full Scan” to examine every file on your server. You may also choose between manually conducting scans or automating malware detection.

During the scan, Cerber will also check for other vulnerabilities, such as the integrity of files in the WordPress core, themes, and plugins.

If Cerber Security finds malware, you will be given a choice to either remove it or quarantine it (if feasible). You can even set it up to automatically put high-risk files in quarantine so that your site is safe right away.

Overall, this is one of your best options, along with Wordfence, if you want a full WordPress security solution that also checks for malware.

Price: Free to begin with. The paid edition starts at $99.

6. WPScan (WPSec Only)

Rather than being a pure malware scanner, WPScan is a WordPress vulnerability scanner. But if you want to avoid malware in the first place, you need to find and fix any weak spots on your site.

WPScan will scan your core, themes, and plugins for vulnerabilities automatically. It will also look for problems like WordPress username enumeration, publicly available wp-config.php files, and more.

So, while this one doesn’t exactly scan for malware, it’s still a crucial tool for malware prevention.

Automattic sponsors WPScan, which is an open-source script. You can install it on your own server, or you can use one of the hosted implementations.

WPScan is a WordPress security scanner that is free and open source. It may be used to scan your WordPress website for known vulnerabilities in both the WordPress core and popular WordPress plugins and themes. It imitates an actual attacker since it is a WordPress black box scanner.

WPSec is the most straightforward method to utilize (pictured above). WPSec lets you test your website once for free by entering its URL, or you can pay €19 per month for automated vulnerability detection.

Which WordPress Malware and Vulnerability Scanner Is the Best?

Use the Sucuri SiteCheck scan on a regular basis if you merely want a simple approach to examine your site for the most noticeable threats. It’s free, and it’ll instantly notify you whether your site has any apparent malware that might harm your users or SEO. You don’t even need to download the plugin; simply go to the Sucuri SiteCheck website and type in the URL of your site.

It’s also a good idea to use the WPScan vulnerability scanner through WPSec on a regular basis to quickly find any holes in your site’s security and fix them.

If you only want malware scanning, MalCare or Jetpack Scan is recommended if you want a more permanent malware scanning solution. On the other hand, Wordfence or Cerber Security, on the other hand, are excellent full-featured WordPress security plugins that also incorporate malware scanning.

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6 Best WordPress Malware Scanner and Vulnerability Scanner Tools (2021)