Technical summary
How does Custom Lockout Rules work in Aegisify Shield Security, and what should administrators verify? protects authentication and account-lifecycle flows through rate limits, unknown-username handling, registration defenses, administrator controls, lockouts, and recovery-aware enforcement. This article is grounded in the supplied Aegisify Shield Security 7.4.5 plugin package. It documents current behavior and defaults rather than relying on older FAQ wording.
Where administrators configure or verify it
Primary wp-admin path: wp-admin → Aegisify Shield → Login Guard. Exact controls can be distributed across the related tab/page when the feature is composed of multiple engines.
Current 7.4.5 defaults and related controls
The table below lists settings in the supplied current source that are directly related to this topic. The current default/bound/status shown is code-derived. Where the product does not define a named Medium preset, the shipped default is documented as the baseline operating point rather than inventing a value.
| Setting | Current default / bound / status | Why this default | How to tune safely |
|---|---|---|---|
malware.custom_directories |
[] | Blank or empty by default because this value depends on the site, organization, route, identity source, recipient, API credential, or exception policy. Configure it only with verified site-specific data. | Supply only validated site-specific values. Leaving it blank/empty means no custom value, exception, recipient, credential, route, or policy has been asserted by default. |
malware.custom_dirs |
[] | Blank or empty by default because this value depends on the site, organization, route, identity source, recipient, API credential, or exception policy. Configure it only with verified site-specific data. | Supply only validated site-specific values. Leaving it blank/empty means no custom value, exception, recipient, credential, route, or policy has been asserted by default. |
file_monitor.custom_paths |
[] | Blank or empty by default because this value depends on the site, organization, route, identity source, recipient, API credential, or exception policy. Configure it only with verified site-specific data. | Supply only validated site-specific values. Leaving it blank/empty means no custom value, exception, recipient, credential, route, or policy has been asserted by default. |
hardening.custom_forms_registration_protection |
off | Disabled in the shipped baseline because enabling it can change live request handling, indexing behavior, automation, enforcement, or integration traffic and should be reviewed for the specific site first. | OFF leaves the behavior inactive. Turn it ON only after checking prerequisites and expected traffic/content because this setting can introduce enforcement, automation, indexing, outbound integration, or additional processing depending on the feature. |
hardening.privileged_ajax_guard_custom_actions |
(blank / site-specific) | Blank or empty by default because this value depends on the site, organization, route, identity source, recipient, API credential, or exception policy. Configure it only with verified site-specific data. | Supply only validated site-specific values. Leaving it blank/empty means no custom value, exception, recipient, credential, route, or policy has been asserted by default. |
login_guard.lockout_minutes |
15 | The shipped value of 15 is the current timing baseline used to balance responsiveness, user impact, and processing overhead. | For the same event limit, a longer accumulation window or lockout/cooldown usually increases protection and user disruption; a shorter interval resets sooner. Tune together with the corresponding event threshold. |
login_guard.pro_lockout_admin_threshold |
3 | The shipped value of 3 is the current baseline threshold or capacity. It is intentionally finite so the control can provide useful protection or bounded resource use without starting at an extreme. | For abuse/rate thresholds, a lower number is generally more aggressive and can stop attacks sooner but may affect legitimate bursts; a higher number is more tolerant but allows more activity before intervention. Change incrementally and validate against logs. |
login_guard.pro_lockout_known_threshold |
5 | The shipped value of 5 is the current baseline threshold or capacity. It is intentionally finite so the control can provide useful protection or bounded resource use without starting at an extreme. | For abuse/rate thresholds, a lower number is generally more aggressive and can stop attacks sooner but may affect legitimate bursts; a higher number is more tolerant but allows more activity before intervention. Change incrementally and validate against logs. |
Adjustment strategy
Change one control at a time, save it through the product UI, reproduce the legitimate and malicious/test flow, and review the product log/status surface. For enforcement controls, use Monitor/Observe first when normal behavior is uncertain; move to Block only after the signal is reliable. For thresholds, do not jump directly from the default to an extreme unless an active incident requires emergency containment and a recovery path exists.
Operational guidance
For WooCommerce, membership, social-login, REST, AJAX, or custom-registration sites, test legitimate account creation and recovery flows before increasing enforcement. Protect the abuse path without blocking normal WordPress/plugin account workflows, and keep an administrator recovery path.
Technical keywords
Aegisify Shield Security, 7.4.5, custom, lockout, managed, rule, rules, signature, malware, custom_directories, custom_dirs, file_monitor, custom_paths, hardening, custom_forms_registration_protection, privileged_ajax_guard_custom_actions
Source baseline
Verified package: Aegisify Shield Security 7.4.5. Primary source files: includes/configuration/class-as-configuration-schema.php; includes/modules/class-as-module-login-guard.php; includes/modules/login_guard/class-as-login-guard-user-protection.php; includes/admin_pages/hardening/class-as-page-hardening-tab-endpoint-protection.php; includes/modules/class-as-module-hardening.php; includes/admin_pages/class-as-page-db-tools.php. If a future plugin version changes these settings, support should re-read the installed version rather than carry these defaults forward automatically.