2020 has been a challenging year for many. However, we have been very lucky and even though it was challenging, we’ve made the best out of it, and we turned it into a big one!
So we wanted to take the time and look back at everything that happened at WP White Security. With remote working set to become the norm (it was always the norm for us), webmasters and online business owners are looking for new ways to maximize accountability, productivity, and security.
Therefore, our aim was to help you increase and enhance the security of one of your most vital assets – your WordPress website and its users (or customers), by utilizing our WordPress plugins for improved productivity, user accountability and to add more layers to the security of your WordPress site.
Now let’s dive right in for a complete overview.
The release of WP 2FA plugin
We were extremely pleased to announce the launch of our new plugin, WP 2FA. We developed a WordPress two-factor-authentication plugin to give administrators the ability to enforce 2FA policies and make it compulsory for users or specific user groups.
On top of that, we also focused on making the plugin very easy to use. This allowed both the admins and the users to set it up without requiring any technical assistance, within just seconds.
WP 2FA is designed to harden the security of your WordPress website’s login process and ensure that your team or website members can keep their information, data, and account details safe.
By installing WP 2FA on your WordPress website you’ll be able to:
- Harden your site’s authentication process
- Protect your user data
- Increase trust with your users and customers
- Save yourself time and money in the long-run
We are proud to say that since its release WP 2FA only got 5-starts reviews on the WordPress repository. Please don’t forget to leave your review as this motivates us more than ever to keep improving the plugin and its features.
Extensions for WordPress activity log
WP Activity Log is the #1 user-rated activity log plugin for WordPress. It keeps a log of changes of the user changes and actions that happen on your WordPress website.
Prior to 2020, the plugin was shipped with built-in sensors to detect changes in popular third party plugins such as WooCommerce and Yoast SEO. However, that made the plugin bloated, and it included many sensors that not all users needed.
In order to support many other plugins, yet have a lightweight activity log solution, we introduced the activity log extensions for third party plugins. Extensions are great because we do not have to include all the code in the main plugin. Users can choose which extensions to install, based on their requirements.
So far we have developed extensions for:
- WooCommerce: use this extension to keep a comprehensive log of the products, store, store settings, orders and many other changes your team do.
- Yoast SEO: use this extension to keep a log of the changes you and your team do in the Yoast SEO meta box (in all type of content) and the Yoast SEO plugin settings.
- WPForms: when you install this extension the plugin keeps a log of all the website forms, entries (leads) and plugin settings changes.
- Gravity Forms: Similar to what we have done for WPForms, with the extension for Gravity Forms the plugin keeps a log of all forms, entries (leads) and plugin settings changes.
- bbPress: If you use bbPress, use this extension to keep a log of the changes in the bbPress plugin, forums and topics.
For a complete list of extensions, visit our third party plugins support and integrations page.
The release of Admin Notices Manager plugin
The WordPress Admin Area can be packed with lots of popups, reminders, and advertisements. Even though some of these notices might not be that useful, there are many other admin notices that are helpful and need your attention.
We felt the need to develop the Admin Notices Manager plugin for WordPress, which was released back in November of last year, because most of the plugins were solving this by deleting or hiding all the admin notices. This is never the right approach, even if you’re drowning among dozens of them.
By moving all the WordPress core, plugins & themes developer notices to a central place, you can read them at your convenience, ensuring you never miss an important message.
The plugin is very easy to use, and it doesn’t affect the speed and performance of your website.
Team growth
Last year we were able to welcome three new team members: Daniel Jones, Martin Krcho and Radostin Angelov.
Martin is our senior web developer. He looks after our development, deployment and automated testing processes. Martin has also been an active member of the WordPress community for over ten years.
Daniel is a jack of all trades. He develops and tests our plugins, and also supports our customers. He is the one finding those annoying bugs and gremlins, so they don’t make it to your website. Daniel has also been developing his own bespoke WordPress themes for more than eight years.
Radostin helps us grow by spreading the word about our awesome plugins. During the last four years he has acquired skills in content development, branding, email marketing, and result-oriented online marketing strategy and implementation.
To learn more about who we are, visit our about us page.
Plugin releases and improvements
Highlight of features and improvements on all plugins that were introduced in 2020.
WP Activity Log
We are very proud with where WP Activity Log is now and the direction we are heading. Thanks to your support and feedback, we managed to release twelve major updates packed with lots of new features, improvements and bug fixes. The main plugin’s highlights in 2020 were:
- The all new activity log viewer, which makes it much easier to read activity log data,
- The full integration with the Website File Manager plugin for logging of file changes,
- The introduction of the new extensions for third party plugins,
- A much better coverage – the plugin can keep a log of more changes than it ever did.
For more details about everything that was introduced, updated and fixed in the 2020 releases, visit the plugin changelog.
Melapress Login Security
We have developed Melapress Login Security to help WordPress site owners like you enforce strong passwords on WordPress users. During 2020, we released six updates where we added many new features and improvements. The main plugin’s highlights in 2020 were:
- The new inactive users policy (plugin locks accounts of inactive users),
- Out-of the-box support for post login redirect plugins
- Full support for custom login pages without the need for customization,
- Improved overall support for third party plugins such as WooCommerce and other membership plugins.
For more details about everything that was introduced, updated and fixed in the 2020 releases of this plugin refer to the plugin changelog.
Website File Changes Monitor
With Website File Changes Monitor plugin for WordPress you can easily keep an eye on your site’s code & file changes. Identify developers’ leftover files that can lead to data leaks, and pinpoint malware injected during successful hack attacks. Last year, we also released six updates which were full of new features and improvements. The main plugin’s highlights in 2020 were:
- Replaced the MD5 hashing algorithm with SHA 256, a more secure algorithm,
- List of file changes detected in a scan are reported in the post scan email,
- Full integration with WP Activity Log (scan progress & file changes reported in the WordPress activity log),
- New WordPress core file integrity check – site’s core files are verified against the files on the official WordPress repository.
For more details about everything that was introduced, updated and fixed in the 2020 releases of this plugin visit the plugin changelog.
That’s all for WP White Security in 2020
2020 was a challenging, but big year for us. One that brought us lots of changes, but also the ability to develop new WordPress plugins and improve the current ones to allow WordPress site administrators and owners better manage theirs websites and users, and keeping them secure.
We would like to thank all of you for the continuous support and feedback. After all, all this would have not been possible without you.
