Title: Plugin safety
Last modified: February 7, 2017

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# Plugin safety

 *  Resolved [mbazian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mbazian/)
 * (@mbazian)
 * [9 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-safety/)
 * Hi All!
 * I am new to WordPress. I have a webmaster that developed it but she is not technical
   so I have been tasked to get the site ready for launch.
 * Security is a significant concern for me. I have been working on hardening the
   site. I did some research and tried two plugins for security: Wordfence and iTheme
   Security. Wordfence broke the site (I tested it locally, of course) whereas Itheme
   seems to work fine.
 * My boss asked me how I came by iTheme and I said I did some research and it has
   over 800,000 installs. He expressed a concern that there are plugins that send
   information back channel to who-knows-where and that got me concerned.
 * So, here’s my question. How do I know if a particular plugin from WordPress.org
   is safe? To me, it’s a black box.
 * As an additional question: Does anyone have experience with iThemes? What do 
   you think? How long have you used it? Is there something better?
 * Thanks

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/)
 * (@macmanx)
 * [9 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-safety/#post-8757686)
 * Every plugin in the official directory at [https://wordpress.org/plugins/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/)
   has to pass several strict checks, including:
 * > 7. The plugin may not “phone home” or track users without their informed, explicit,
   > opt-in consent.
 * [https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org/detailed-plugin-guidelines/](https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org/detailed-plugin-guidelines/)
 * iThemes Security is safe in this regard.
 *  Thread Starter [mbazian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mbazian/)
 * (@mbazian)
 * [9 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-safety/#post-8797231)
 * Thanks.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Plugin safety’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Everything else WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/miscellaneous/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [mbazian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mbazian/)
 * Last activity: [9 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-safety/#post-8797231)
 * Status: resolved

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