Shield Security v6.7 for WordPress released 21st May, 2018.

This release for Shield Security sees 2 big additions, along with new videos, overall improvements and bug fixes.

Shield Security and the GDPR

We touched a little on the GDPR when we released our password policy feature enhancements. GDPR is a huge change in the regulations surrounding how everyone should handle private, personal data of any kind.

It’s beyond the scope of this article to delve into the details of the GDPR. Here we’ll outline 3 enhancements to the Shield Security plugin that allow professionals and businesses manage any data and its privacy.

WordPress.org has just released version 4.9.6 which brings with it brand new data privacy controls. These controls also make it easy for plugin authors to integrate with them.

Site administrators can now respond to data information and erasure requests in a simple interface, that also automatically verifies the identity for the requester.

Shield Security now integrates directly with these new controls (export and erase). When you use the built-in Data Export and Data Erase options within your WordPress site, any and all data pertaining to that user will also be made available.

Note: This integration is a Pro-only feature.

Shield, GDPR and Updated Privacy Policies

Another element of the privacy tools inside WordPress is the ability generate Privacy Policy pages. We haven’t (yet) integrated with this, but we have provided policy supplements which you can use to manually update your site Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

These policies supplements are freely available and may be found here. These are provided as-is, without warranty and without charge.

Use of our policy supplements is 100% at your own risk and discretion – you are responsible for the appropriate policies for your sites and services.

New: Shield Security Insights Dashboard

We’ve felt that Shield Security has been lacking a single one-stop dashboard for a long time… especially as the functionality and modules inside the plugin have grown.

With Shield v6.7, we’re releasing a brand new Insights Dashboard that will be the new landing page when you load the Shield Security plugin. Insights is designed to be 1st place any site administrator will go to, in order to learn of any issues that they need to take care of.

Shield Security Insights Dashboard

Shield Security Insights Dashboard

Note: Insights is only available for sites running PHP 5.4 and above.

What does the Insights Dashboard do?

There are currently 4 main sections in the Insights Dashboard. These may evolve and adapt as we develop it further and take on any feedback.

1. Summary Stats

Some important counters/stats are displayed that shows how many major events Shield has handled in its lifetime. It’s not a complete Stats breakdown, but a simple summary.

2. Security Notices

These represent important items that may impact your site security. Addressing these notices should be a top-priority.

3. Shield Recent Events

Often it’s hard to know what things are happening with Shield. Sure, the Audit Trail provides a granular and detailed breakdown of what’s happening. But until now, we didn’t have a way to see major events from a higher level.

This section will list the last known recorded incident for many common events that Shield Security handles.

4. Recent Audit Trail Entries

Here you’ll be able to see the last 20 entries in the Audit Trail without having to load the entire Audit Trail section.

Other Shield Enhancements and Changes

Following our introduction of Ask Paulie Anything, we’re getting better at creating and producing videos.

In light of this, we’re adding more videos to Shield and we’ve added several new explanatory videos to the welcome wizard.

In this release we’ve also fixed a couple of bug which were a little annoying if not frustrating. Generally though, there are no major changes to the system for existing features.

A New Facebook Group

While no strictly-speaking a Shield plugin addition, it’s still an important part of the Shield Security package.

After receiving some feedback on this, we’ve decided to create our dedicated Facebook group. You can join-up here.

Please understand this is not a customer support forum, but rather a means for like-minded folk to gather, discuss security, and help each other out.

Any Questions, Feedback, or Suggestions?

As always, feedback is welcome – you can leave comments below, or even in the Facebook group. 🙂

Thank you!