How Does WP Login Lockdown Work?

WP Login Lockdown works by setting up a series of checks and defenses around your WordPress login page. It’s designed to be proactive, catching malicious attempts before they can do any harm.

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At its core, the plugin monitors every login attempt to your WordPress site. It keeps a record of the IP address and the time of each failed login. Now, here’s where the “lockdown” part comes in: if it detects too many failed attempts coming from the same IP address within a short period, it steps in and blocks that IP address from making any more login requests. The default setting, which you can always change, is to lock out an IP for an hour after three failed attempts in five minutes. This is really effective against what’s known as “brute force password attacks,” where automated scripts try to guess your password over and over.

Beyond just limiting attempts, it adds other layers of protection: WP Login Lockdown Features

• Blocking Bad IPs and Countries: If you’ve got traffic from suspicious regions, you can set up country blocking to prevent access or login attempts from those locations entirely. For known malicious IPs, you can maintain a blacklist, or if you only want specific IPs to access your login, you can create a whitelist. The cloud protection feature even lets you manage these lists centrally across multiple sites.
• Human Verification (CAPTCHA): When someone tries to log in, the CAPTCHA challenges them to prove they’re human, not a bot. This stops a large chunk of automated attacks right in their tracks.
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Instead of just a username and password, WP Login Lockdown can require a second step. With its email-based 2FA, after entering their credentials, the user has to click a unique link sent to their email to complete the login. This means even if a hacker has your password, they can’t get in without also having access to your email inbox.
• Honeypots for Bots: It deploys hidden fields or “honeypots” that are only visible to bots. If a bot tries to fill in these fields, the plugin immediately identifies it as malicious and blocks it. It’s like setting a trap for unwanted automated visitors.
• Login URL Obscurity: You can change the default wp-login.php URL to something unique, making it harder for attackers to even find your login page in the first place. This isn’t foolproof, but it adds a layer of obscurity that can deter many automated scripts.

Administrators also get a detailed log of all failed attempts and IP lockouts, so you can always see who’s been trying to get in. You can even manually release a locked-out IP if needed.

Essentially, WP Login Lockdown acts like a bouncer for your WordPress site, checking everyone at the door, and making sure only legitimate users can get in.

Read more about WP Login Lockdown Review:
WP Login Lockdown Review & First Look
WP Login Lockdown Features