About Security Ninja
Hey there, welcome to WP Security Ninja – your go-to solution for WordPress website security! I'm Lars Koudal, and since taking over in 2019, I've been on a mission to make website security accessible and stress-free for everyone.
Since then, we've been hard at work enhancing WP Security Ninja, introducing a host of new features and integrations to bolster your website's defenses. Our solutions are thwarting thousands of malicious attempts by hackers and spammers daily.
But it's not just about security – it's also about user experience. We've worked tirelessly to ensure that using WP Security Ninja is a breeze, without compromising on customization options. Our user-friendly install wizard and the ability to import/export settings make securing your website a seamless process.
And let's not forget about our extensive documentation. With over 150 articles added since 2019, everything you need to know about WP Security Ninja is just a click away. You can even access it directly from the plugin pages via the little help beacon.
For users with 20 or more website licenses, we also offer whitelabeling, allowing you to tailor WP Security Ninja to your brand.
Join me on this journey as we redefine the standard for website security. Check out our roadmap to see where we're headed, and with WP Security Ninja by your side, your website will be shielded from threats, allowing you to focus on what truly matters – your business.
Lars Koudal
Lars Koudal brings over 25 years of experience to WP Security Ninja. With a background in computer science and a diverse career journey that includes working with 3D/CGI, CD-ROM production, project management, and serving as an SEO/PPC manager, Lars is all about making website security easy and accessible.
Since taking over WP Security Ninja in 2019, Lars has been tinkering away, working towards making website security a breeze for everyone, so you can worry less and focus more on what you love.
How things have changed
Now, let's explore the original content that adorned the WP Security Ninja about page before changes in ownership.
This glimpse into the past offers valuable insight into the foundation and ethos of the plugin.
The following is the original text from Webfactory Ltd.
For most of us, security is something we think about after it's too late. That's unlikely to change anytime soon. Security is simply put - boring. It's not something that you see; it's not something that looks cool. It's often frustrating too. Why do we even need passwords? And why can't all passwords be 12345?
A more straightforward take on a well-known problem
Years ago we came to realize that the average website owner is not going to change his ways. He'll invest the absolute minimum of all minimums into security. We wanted to transform that minimum into - just enough. That's how Security Ninja came to be, as an idea to provide website owners with a non-technical, straightforward and perhaps even fun insight into their site's security to nudge them into making the minimum effort towards a safer site.
Trying to keep the interface and the whole look & feel of the plugin simple was one of our primary goals: no unnecessary buttons, options or settings. Just the basic "this is good, and this is bad" is what Security Ninja was all about. We kept to that paradigm for a long time, even after adding multiple modules and we feel that our approach is still much simpler than what you can find in most plugins.
Who's behind all this?
Security Ninja was created by WebFactory Ltd. The plugin was purchased in 2019 and have since then been maintained, supported and sold by Larsik Corp.
The history of Security Ninja
Security Ninja was celebrating its tenth birthday in 2021! In internet years that's a lot! As usual, time flies by quickly and at some point, you realize "wow, has it been that long"? Yes, yes it has.
Through the years what kept us going, what drives us to develop, maintain and expand the plugin was the fact that people used it! Security Ninja kept sites safe, users informed and us happy.
We hope that will continue for another ten years, at least 🙂 Till then, here's a short history of Security Ninja's birth and growth. You can also check out the changelog.
- Early summer 2011
Security Ninja (it was called "Site Security Tester" in that first version) was made as an internal tool, used for testing the most common security issues on clients' sites. It had barely ten tests, but we installed it on every site to quickly check things we knew needed checking. - September 27th, 2011
Security Ninja went live for sale on CodeCanyon! For a disturbingly low $8 you could have bought a lifetime license for unlimited sites. Not a very wise business decision, we know. But, those were the prices back in the day. - December 31st, 2011
After three months Security Ninja already racked 318 sales and was featured on CodeCanyon. Wayback machine has a snapshot. The price was increased to a whopping $10. - August 31st, 2012
Core Scanner add-on is released! First add-on in the series of four (on CC) for $6.
Sales are still going strong; we're at 823. Which means Security Ninja sales almost 3 copies a day. From the initial ten tests, it's grown to 26. - December 2nd, 2012
Security Ninja Lite added to the WordPress repository as a free plugin. This was the only terrible move we ever did with Security Ninja. It turns out nobody wants to use a "lite" version of a plugin. It never got any traction. - December 23rd, 2012
Scheduled Scanner is released! For $6 you can automatically run Security Ninja and core scanner add-on tests.
Security Ninja passed 1,100 sales and Core Scanner 150. - August 9th, 2014
Third add-on released - Events Logger. Security Ninja is already a reputable brand and sales are still going strong. - September 17th, 2014
To make purchasing more accessible, we created the Security Ninja Bundle. A package with all the add-ons and the main plugin. By this time Security Ninja has 2,500+ sales and Core Scanner 1,000+. - March 5th, 2015
Fourth and last add-on on CodeCanyon released - Malware Scanner. Although the sales are still solid, the overall traffic and visibility on CodeCanyon is dropping significantly. - August 30th, 2016
We pulled the trigger! Security Ninja is no longer available on CodeCanyon and the main module is now free and available on the WordPress repository. All add-ons have been packed into one plugin - Security Ninja PRO which we're selling on our own. Technically we're utilizing the freemium but most sales come from the website, not from the free version. - September 16th, 2016
Although we've started removing other plugins from CodeCanyon too, we've decided to put Security Ninja PRO back on it. But, on our non-exclusive account since we're now selling SN on our own. No sales were expected and (almost) none were made. The move was made only for marketing benefits. - April 9th, 2017
New module (ex add-on) - Auto Fixer. Nobody wants to mess with code if they can click one "fix" button right? New tests are continuously added to the main module - we're now at 50+.
After moving from CodeCanyon we lost a lot of traffic, but sales are still going strong. - December 7th, 2017
After asking users what functionality is missing in Security Ninja PRO, we created the Database Optimizer module. A one-click solution to all database speed and maintenance problems. - April 5th, 2018
Cloud Firewall is released! Ban 600 million bad IPs with one click and protect your login from brute-force attacks.
