Search form protection (anti-SEO spam + CPU protection)

Feature Search form protection — Stops bots from abusing WordPress search by scoring suspicious queries and rate-limiting aggressive activity. How it works The search term is scored; block/hold can return a 429 rate-limit response, and Challenge can apply a small delay to discourage automated scraping/search spam. How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Enable “Search form protection”. Save changes. Recommended setting Recommended: ON for public sites. Search abuse can generate thousands of low-value pages and waste CPU; protection reduces that risk. Why you need this Admins protect SEO and performance by preventing bot-driven search spam pages. Additional information

Any POST mode include admin-ajax.php / admin-post.php allowlists

Feature AJAX & admin-post protection (allowlisted) — Optionally include admin-ajax.php and admin-post.php POST submissions in Generic POST mode using allowlisted actions/patterns. How it works These endpoints are widely used by plugins; AegisSpamGuard keeps them OFF by default for safety and requires allowlists to avoid breaking legitimate features. How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Site-wide protection Enable “Include admin-ajax.php” and/or “Include admin-post.php” only if you add allowlisted actions/paths. Recommended setting Recommended: Leave OFF unless you know the exact actions you must protect. Incorrect allowlists can break forms and AJAX features; turn on only after testing. Why you need this Admins get ‘whole-site’ coverage while retaining safe defaults that don’t disrupt site functionality. Additional information

Any POST / Any Form mode (generic protection)

Feature Generic POST / Any Form protection — Protects unknown theme forms and unsupported plugins by scoring front-end POST submissions even without an adapter. How it works The core guard runs early, skips wp-admin/REST/AJAX by default, avoids double-handling known adapters, then scores POST fields and enforces policy (block/hold; challenge can be enforced if configured). How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Site-wide protection Enable “Protect all POST submissions (generic forms)” and save. Recommended setting Recommended: ON with “Block on Challenge” ON while tuning. Generic POST mode catches more vectors; blocking Challenge prevents bot floods until thresholds and allowlists are tuned. Why you need this Admins with custom themes, bespoke forms, and niche plugins get protection without waiting for adapters. Additional information

Geo/ASN provider options (local DB / optional MaxMind with caching)

Feature Geo/ASN providers — Lets you choose how geo and ASN enrichment works (local-first with caching; optional MaxMind where configured). How it works Geo/ASN enrichment can add context for rules (country/ASN allow/deny). Caching prevents repeated lookups and keeps performance stable. How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Geo / ASN defaults Choose provider and cache behavior (if available). Recommended setting Recommended: Keep Geo/ASN OFF unless you need geo rules; enable only after confirming hosting performance. Geo lookups are optional—don’t add complexity unless you’ll use the rules. Why you need this Admins running targeted geo restrictions or seeing country-based spam benefit from this optional layer. Additional information

No external calls mode (privacy-first master toggle)

Feature No external calls (master toggle) — Disables outbound HTTP calls so the plugin runs fully local-first. How it works When enabled, AegisSpamGuard skips external disposable list fetches, external reputation, and optional geo providers that require downloads/calls (depending on your configuration). How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Privacy defaults Enable “No external calls”. Recommended setting Recommended: ON for strict privacy / offline environments. This ensures no data leaves the site and removes network dependency. Why you need this Admins with privacy constraints or locked-down hosting can still run strong anti-spam without SaaS. Additional information

IP handling mode (store / anonymize / hash / off)

Feature IP handling mode — Controls how IP addresses are stored and used in logs and rules: full store, anonymize, hash, or disable IP storage entirely. How it works AegisSpamGuard can still function with reduced IP storage by relying more on fingerprinting and content/behavior signals. Hash/anonymize modes preserve privacy while supporting rate limiting and reputation. How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Privacy defaults Set “IP handling mode”. Recommended setting Recommended: Hash or Anonymize for most sites; Store only if you need strict IP auditing. Hash/anonymize reduces personal data footprint while keeping anti-abuse effectiveness. Why you need this Admins need flexibility to match privacy policy requirements and regional compliance. Additional information

Per-site salt for email hashing

Feature Per-site salted email hashing — Hashes email identities with a unique per-site salt so stored identifiers can’t be reused across sites. How it works The salt is generated on activation and used when computing email_hash. This improves privacy while still allowing allow/deny and reputation features. How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Privacy defaults Ensure per-site hashing is enabled (default). Recommended setting Recommended: Keep enabled (default). It protects user privacy and still allows consistent per-site identity reputation. Why you need this Admins can stay privacy-forward (and GDPR-friendly) without sacrificing control. Additional information

Local ML (Naive Bayes) and training workflow

Feature Local ML (Naive Bayes) — A lightweight local classifier that learns from your site’s own spam vs not-spam decisions. How it works Tokens are normalized (URLs/emails/numbers become special tokens). Training updates a local DB table so ML becomes one signal in your score, not the entire decision. How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Enable “Local ML” (if present) and set ML weight. Go to Spam Log → select events → Train Spam / Train Not Spam. Recommended setting Recommended: ON with a modest weight (e.g., 8–15 points). Keeping ML as a small signal prevents model drift from overpowering strong deterministic signals like honeypot or deny rules. Why you need this Admins get site-specific learning without sending data to a cloud service. Additional information

Similarity to known spam (site-local reputation)

Feature Similarity to known spam — Scores new submissions by comparing them to spam previously blocked on your site. How it works AegisSpamGuard stores fingerprints and patterns from blocked events and checks similarity within a lookback window. Similar messages get points even if they change slightly. How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Content module settings Enable similarity and set lookback + threshold. Recommended setting Recommended: ON with 30-day lookback and ~0.72 threshold to start. This catches evolving spam campaigns while reducing false positives by requiring high similarity. Why you need this Admins benefit because spam waves usually reuse templates—similarity detection breaks that advantage. Additional information

Optional MX checks (email existence signal)

Feature Domain MX checks — Optionally checks if the email domain has valid MX records (cached) to detect obviously fake addresses. How it works If enabled, AegisSpamGuard performs a DNS lookup and caches results so the check is fast after the first run. Failed MX can add points or trigger Challenge/Hold depending on policy. How to access / enable WP Admin → AegisSpamGuard → Settings Identity module settings Toggle “Enable MX checks” ON/OFF. Recommended setting Recommended: OFF on shared hosting unless you verify DNS performance; enable after testing. DNS lookups can be slow or blocked in some environments—test first to avoid latency. Why you need this Admins who rely on email deliverability and quality can use this to reduce fake signups. Additional information

FAQs – Page 16 – Aegisify, Inc. – Free WordPress Security Audit and Scans with Agentic AI

Categories: AegisSpam
Search form protection (anti-SEO spam + CPU protection)
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
Any POST mode include admin-ajax.php / admin-post.php allowlists
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
Any POST / Any Form mode (generic protection)
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
Geo/ASN provider options (local DB / optional MaxMind with caching)
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
No external calls mode (privacy-first master toggle)
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
IP handling mode (store / anonymize / hash / off)
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
Per-site salt for email hashing
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
Local ML (Naive Bayes) and training workflow
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
Similarity to known spam (site-local reputation)
read more
Categories: AegisSpam
Optional MX checks (email existence signal)
read more

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