OWS IP & Country Block is a powerful WordPress plugin that allows you to block users based on their IP addresses and countries. This plugin helps enhance your website security by preventing access from unwanted sources.

Key Features:

IP Address Blocking: Block specific IP addresses or IP ranges using CIDR notation
Country-based Blocking: Block entire countries from accessing your website
IP Whitelist: Create a whitelist of IP addresses that should never be blocked
Customizable Block Message: Set a custom message to display to blocked users
Access Logging: Keep track of blocked access attempts with detailed logs
Easy Administration: Simple and intuitive admin interface
Performance Optimized: Lightweight and fast with minimal impact on site performance

Use Cases:

Prevent spam and malicious attacks from specific countries
Block competitors from accessing your content
Comply with legal requirements for geo-blocking
Enhance security by blocking known malicious IP ranges
Control access during maintenance or testing

Security Features:

All user inputs are properly sanitized and validated
Uses WordPress nonces for form security
Follows WordPress coding standards and best practices
Compatible with caching plugins and CDNs

External Services

This plugin connects to ip-api.com to determine the country of a visitor’s IP address. This lookup only occurs when country blocking is enabled and the visitor’s country is not already cached.

Data sent: The visitor’s IP address.
When: On each frontend page load when country blocking is active and no cached result exists for that IP.
Service provider: ip-api.com
Terms of Service: https://ip-api.com/docs/legal
Privacy Policy: https://ip-api.com/docs/legal

Privacy Policy

This plugin stores IP addresses and country information for blocked access attempts in your WordPress database. This data is used solely for security purposes and is not shared with third parties. The plugin may make requests to free GeoIP services to determine visitor countries.

Support

For support, feature requests, or bug reports, please visit the plugin’s GitHub repository or contact the developer.

Credits

This plugin uses the IP-API service for country detection. Special thanks to the WordPress community for their coding standards and best practices.