Guard Dog Security & Site Lock helps WordPress administrators keep their websites clean, protected, and easier to audit directly from the WordPress dashboard.
Guard Dog gives site owners visibility into what exists on the server, what has changed, what may be risky, and whether important WordPress files are still intact. It combines folder and file auditing, Site Lock protection, Watch Dog file change monitoring, WordPress core integrity checks, infection scanning, cleanup utilities, and security tools into one practical WordPress security suite.
Over time, WordPress websites often collect leftover plugin folders, abandoned theme files, old uploads, temporary files, suspicious scripts, modified files, and other items that are easy to miss. These files can create confusion during troubleshooting, waste storage, and in some cases create security risks. Guard Dog helps identify and review those items so administrators can view, download, ignore, delete, approve, or investigate them from one place.
Site Lock
One of the easiest ways for a compromised user, vulnerable plugin, or attacker to damage a WordPress site is by adding, changing, or deleting physical files.
The
Site Lock feature helps protect against this by allowing you to lock important files and folders so they become read-only. When Site Lock is active, protected files and folders cannot be changed through normal write operations. This can help prevent unwanted file additions, injected scripts, unauthorized edits, and accidental deletions.
When legitimate updates or maintenance are needed, you can unlock the site, perform the changes, and then apply Site Lock again.
Watch Dog File Change Monitor
Watch Dog is a trusted baseline system for detecting file changes across your WordPress installation.
Watch Dog allows you to create a trusted snapshot of your site files. Future scans compare the current file state against that baseline and report anything that is new, modified, or deleted. This is especially helpful after WordPress updates, plugin updates, theme changes, malware cleanup, or suspicious activity.
Watch Dog File Change Monitor includes:
- Trusted baseline creation and rebuilding
- Manual file change scans
- Scheduled file change scans
- Email alerts when file changes are detected
- Detection for new, modified, and deleted files
- File risk labeling
- File preview and detail modal
- Download detected files for review
- Approve trusted changes
- Delete unwanted detected files
- Bulk actions for faster review
- Baseline exclusions for folders and individual files
- Automatic exclusion of internal Watch Dog storage files
- Protected baseline storage under wp-content/uploads/guard-dog/watch-dog/
- AJAX actions with loading overlays and in-page confirmations
- Site Lock compatibility so Watch Dog can still write to its protected storage location
Watch Dog Core Check
Watch Dog Core Check verifies WordPress core file integrity by comparing installed WordPress core files against the official
WordPress.org checksum API.
Core Check is designed to verify WordPress core areas only. It checks WordPress root core files, wp-admin, and wp-includes. It does not scan plugins, themes, uploads, custom content, or bundled wp-content files as part of the core verification.
Watch Dog Core Check can report:
- Modified WordPress core files
- Missing WordPress core files
- Unreadable WordPress core files
- Unexpected files found inside core areas
Core Check includes:
- Manual core integrity checks
- Scheduled core checks
- Email alerts when core issues are found
- Branded core issue notification emails
- Styled results table matching the Watch Dog interface
- View, download, delete, and ignore actions for reported files
- Dedicated Core Check settings for schedule and email recipient
Folder & File Auditor
Guard Dog takes a disk-first approach. It crawls your WordPress installation and inventories files and folders in important areas of the site. This makes it possible to identify hidden files, orphaned plugin folders, leftover theme folders, unexpected PHP files in uploads, .htaccess files, and other items that may not appear in normal WordPress admin screens.
Guard Dog audits the following areas:
- WordPress root directory
- wp-content directory
- Plugins directory
- Themes directory
- Uploads directory
- .htaccess files
Infection Scanner
The Infection Scanner helps review site files and database content for suspicious patterns that may indicate malware, injected code, hidden scripts, or unsafe content.
This tool is designed to help administrators quickly identify items that deserve review during a cleanup or security investigation. It can be used alongside the auditor, Watch Dog, Plugin Refresher, Theme Refresher, and Permissions Check tools to improve the cleanup process.
Plugin Refresher
Plugin Refresher is a powerful cleanup tool for infection recovery.
It allows
WordPress.org plugins to be refreshed with clean copies using a safer queued process. This helps replace altered, damaged, missing, or infected plugin files while keeping visibility into installed versions, available versions, update status, and plugin freshness.
Plugin Refresher includes:
- Individual plugin refreshes
- Bulk plugin refreshes with selectable plugins
- Queued native WordPress upgrader process
- Branded progress feedback
- Bulk refresh progress window
- Refreshed count, remaining count, percentage complete, and progress bar
- Navigation protection during bulk refreshes
- Automatic progress window close when refreshes complete
- Installed version and available version details
- Update status for each plugin
- Last updated data from WordPress.org
- Separate manual refresh/install table for plugins not available on WordPress.org
- Stronger detection for WordPress.org plugin availability
Theme Refresher
Theme Refresher works like Plugin Refresher, but for
WordPress.org themes.
It allows
WordPress.org themes to be refreshed with clean copies using a queued native WordPress upgrader process. This can be helpful when theme files have been changed, damaged, infected, or need to be restored from a clean
WordPress.org source.
Theme Refresher includes:
- Individual theme refreshes
- Bulk theme refreshes with selectable themes
- Queued native WordPress upgrader process
- Branded progress feedback
- Installed version and available version details
- Update status for each theme
- Last updated data from WordPress.org
- Separate manual refresh/install table for themes not available on WordPress.org
- Stronger detection for WordPress.org theme availability
Permissions Check
Permissions Check reviews important WordPress file and folder permissions that can make infection cleanup harder or allow altered files to be changed again.
The tool shows current permissions, recommended permissions, status, and available actions. High-risk items are shown first, followed by items that need attention, then good items.
Permissions Check includes:
- Current and recommended permission values
- Good, Needs Attention, and High Risk status counts
- High Risk detection for unsafe writable files
- Needs Attention detection for folders not using recommended permissions
- Special handling for wp-config.php
- Detection for wp-config.php in the WordPress root or parent directory
- Permission repair actions for files and folders that can be safely updated
- 403-safe fallback handling for permission repair requests blocked by admin-ajax.php
- Sorted results so the most important items appear first
Security Tools
Guard Dog includes practical tools for cleanup, investigation, verification, and hardening:
- Plugin Refresher
- Theme Refresher
- File Finder & Remover
- Permissions Check
- Blacklist Check
- SSL Information
- Security Headers
- User Security Enhancements
- Infection Scanner
- Exportable audit and security reports
Key Features
- Lock site files and folders with Site Lock
- Audit WordPress root, wp-content, plugins, themes, uploads, and .htaccess files
- Detect hidden, orphaned, or unexpected plugin and theme folders
- Detect PHP files inside uploads
- View, download, ignore, include, or delete files from the dashboard
- Scan for suspicious files using the Infection Scanner
- Run database infection scans for harmful data
- Configure security headers
- Strengthen user security settings
- Reinstall clean plugin copies with Plugin Refresher
- Reinstall clean theme copies with Theme Refresher
- Check important WordPress file and folder permissions
- Repair fixable permission issues from the dashboard
- Check SSL certificate details with SSL Information
- Check blacklist and reputation status with Blacklist Check
- Create Watch Dog file baselines
- Detect new, modified, and deleted files
- Verify WordPress core files with the official checksum API
- Schedule Watch Dog file change scans and Core Check scans
- Send branded email alerts when issues are found
- Use AJAX-powered admin navigation and action overlays
- Export reports for review or record keeping