WebSentry Security Monitor

WebSentry is a website security scanning service. It checks a site’s SSL certificate, security headers, cookies, DNS and other settings, and grades it from A to F. This plugin shows that grade, when the site was last checked, and a link to the full report, inside your WordPress admin.

A free WebSentry account is enough. It includes a WordPress plugin key and 20 checks a month, which is all this plugin needs. You press “Check now” in the dashboard widget and the grade updates. Nothing is checked unless you ask, so an unused install costs nothing.

A paid plan adds scheduled monitoring: the site is scanned on its own schedule whether or not you are looking, you get an email when the grade drops, and the widget names the checks that moved rather than counting them. See WebSentry pricing.

What it shows:

• The site it is installed on: no address to type
• A dashboard widget with your security grade (A to F), and whether it went up or down since the previous check
• How many checks got worse or were fixed since the previous scan. On a paid plan, which ones
• When the site was last checked, and a note when that grade has gone stale
• A link to your full WebSentry report
• A colour-coded grade in the admin bar, for administrators
• A notice when your grade drops, which each administrator can dismiss. A later drop shows it again
• “Check now” in the widget, which runs a fresh check and spends one of your monthly checks
• On a plan with monitors, one button adds the site to your account and scans it on a schedule

Nothing is added to your public pages, and nothing runs outside the admin.

External services

This plugin connects to the WebSentry API, run by AXOX Web Solutions, to fetch your site’s security grade and to check the site when you ask. It is needed for everything the plugin shows.

• What is sent: your WebSentry API key and your site’s address.
• When: to fetch the grade, when an administrator opens the dashboard and the stored result is more than an hour old, and when someone presses Test Connection or Refresh. To check the site, only when an administrator presses Check now. To add the site to your account, only when an administrator presses Start monitoring this site. Nothing is sent before an API key is entered, and nothing is sent from public pages.
• Where: https://websentry.dev/api/plugin/status to fetch the grade, https://websentry.dev/api/scan to check the site, and https://websentry.dev/api/monitors to add the site as a monitor.

WebSentry terms of service and privacy policy.