How To Use Emergency Lockdown With BetterShield?
Sign out other dashboard sessions, refuse sign-ins from accounts that cannot manage the site and freeze installs and updates, with the front end left open.
In BetterShield, lockdown is one switch for the hour you find out something is wrong. It closes the administrative ways into the site and leaves the front end as it was, so you can look for what happened without anyone else changing things. It is the last card on BetterShield › Protection › Recovery, under In an emergency.
What it does
While it is on, it:
- Signs out every other dashboard session, including your own on other devices. Every account that can edit posts is signed out (on multisite, super admins too); the session you pressed the switch from is kept. One press signs out up to 500 accounts.
- Refuses sign-ins from every account that cannot manage this site. They see “This site is temporarily closed to sign-ins while its owner deals with a security problem. Please try again later.” Their password is not counted as wrong, so nobody is locked out after it ends.
- Turns off XML-RPC and application passwords.
- Pauses assistant connections and connected apps, including the hub. They come back when it is lifted.
- Stops new registrations through WordPress’s own sign-up (and wp-signup.php on multisite) and a store’s My Account form. The store’s saved setting is not changed, and an account made at checkout is left alone.
- Stops anyone installing or updating plugins, themes or WordPress itself, administrators included, and closes the plugin and theme file editors. Automatic background updates you have switched on in WordPress still run, because they are not made by a person.
What keeps working:
- The front end. Nothing here touches what visitors see, and a WooCommerce checkout keeps working.
- Accounts that cannot edit posts, such as subscribers and a store’s customers, keep the sessions they already have.
- Deactivating and deleting plugins, so you can remove what you found.
- Administrators’ sign-ins.
A lockdown never expires. It stays on until somebody lifts it.
Step 1: Use Emergency Lockdown
| Option | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Lock the site down | Asks once more, then Yes: lock this site down turns it on at once. Cancel changes nothing. | Off |
| Lift the lockdown | Shown while it is on. Turns it off at once. | None |
It is also listed as Site lockdown under Settings history on Settings › General, which puts it back the other way. From the terminal, wp bettershield lockdown on and off (with --user=<login>) do the same; on from there signs out every dashboard session, your own included. It is not included when you export settings.
Recommended settings
Keep it off, and use it when you believe someone else is holding a dashboard account or session: an administrator you do not recognize, a change nobody on the team made, or an incident that points at a signed-in account. Lock down, look, remove what you find, then lift it.
It is too much when one account is the concern. Press Sign out all their sessions for that account under Who is signed in on Login & Access, and have its owner choose a new password instead. Updates are frozen while it is on, so if the fix is an update, lift the lockdown, update, and lock down again if you still need to. Check your recovery link works before you press it.
| Site | What we recommend |
|---|---|
| Store (WooCommerce) | Orders keep coming in, but customers cannot sign in to their accounts, and neither can staff such as Shop Managers unless their role can manage the site. Keep it as short as you can. |
| Membership or course site | Members cannot sign in for as long as it is on. Lift it as soon as you are done. |
| Agency or many sites | It is per site. Lock down only the site with the problem. |
What it can break, and how to undo
- Editors, authors and other staff are signed out and cannot sign in again until it is lifted.
- Tools that use XML-RPC or application passwords, such as the WordPress mobile app or a connected service, stop working.
- Updates and installs are refused, and WordPress’s own registration is closed.
- Lifting it restores sign-ins, registrations, updates, XML-RPC and application passwords at once. Sessions that were ended stay ended: people sign in again.
- If you are locked out yourself, your recovery link or a recovery code starts safe mode, which stands the lockdown down for that hour. It comes back when safe mode ends, so sign in and press Lift the lockdown while safe mode lasts. See Locked out.
- With Ask for my password before removing a protection on, both turning it on and lifting it ask for your password. Neither can be done with an application password.
Final Outcome
Every dashboard screen shows a notice that starts This site is locked down. It says sign-ins are refused for every account that cannot manage the site, that code changes are frozen, how long it has been on, and that it stays on until somebody lifts it. While safe mode lasts, the notice is not shown.
- On the Recovery tab, the Lockdown tile reads On with Since and the time, and the In an emergency section is marked Locked down (Site open when it is off).
- Activity log: “Site locked down” (Critical) and “Site lockdown lifted” (High). Both are emailed to your alert recipients as they happen (when instant alerts are enabled), with subjects such as “[Site name] Site locked down”.
On multisite
Each site has its own switch, and throwing it on one site leaves the others open. It still signs out the network’s super admins, because their sessions reach this site too. The network’s recovery link stands a lockdown down on every site for its hour.
Related
This is how you can use emergency lockdown with BetterShield.
Getting Stuck? Feel free to contact our Dedicated Support Team.