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XC Shield

XC Shield
Privacy-first spam protection for WordPress forms — no Google, no reCAPTCHA, no tracking. XC Shield blocks bots and spam across comments, registrations, contact forms, and WooCommerce checkout using EU-hosted statistical analysis. Free, GDPR-compliant, set up in two minutes.
€0.00
Version1.3.0

Product Details

First Release 28 April 2026
Last Update 16 July 2026
Compatible Browsers IE11, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Edge
Software Version WordPress 7.0.x
Requires WP 6.2+
Requires PHP 7.4+
Compatible With Bootstrap 5.x
Gutenberg Optimized Yes
High Resolution Yes
Files Included PHP, JavaScript JS, CSS, Markdown

Description

Stop spam without selling out your visitors' privacy

Most spam-protection plugins make your visitors solve puzzles, or quietly ship their data off to Google. XC Shield does neither. It connects your WordPress site to the Xania Shield API — a privacy-first spam-detection engine that analyses submissions using local statistical methods, not Big Tech surveillance. No CAPTCHAs. No data sold or shared. No cookies, no tracking, no compromise.

⚙️ How it works

When someone submits a form, XC Shield sends a minimal, privacy-respecting fingerprint to the Xania Shield API, which scores it against 14 cumulative detection rules — honeypot traps, disposable-email detection, behavioural signals, datacenter-IP checks, content analysis, and proof-of-work, among others. No single signal blocks a visitor; the engine weighs them together, so legitimate users sail through while bots get stopped. You get a clear verdict — allow, challenge, or block — in under 100 milliseconds.

🧩 Works with the forms you already use

Eleven integrations, one toggle each.

  • 🔒 Minimal by design — only a privacy-respecting fingerprint is ever sent, never your full form
  • 🚫 No Google, no reCAPTCHA, no Akismet — zero Big Tech dependencies
  • GDPR-compliant by design — send a full email, domain only, or an irreversible SHA-256 hash
  • 🍪 No cookies, no tracking — no fingerprinting of your users
  • 🔑 Encrypted key storage — AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption, never plaintext

🎛️ Built for control, not guesswork

  • Three modes — Protect (block spam), Monitor (log only), and Off
  • Adjustable thresholds — set your own challenge and block sensitivity per site
  • Fail-open by design — if the API is ever unreachable, your forms keep working
  • Trusted-proxy aware — correct visitor IP behind Cloudflare or custom proxies, with spoofing protection
  • Developer-friendly — a clean xc_shield_check() API for any custom form

Free, forever

The XC Shield plugin is completely free. Protection is powered by the Xania Shield API — start on the free tier and upgrade only if your traffic grows. No license keys, no activation, no nag screens.

Privacy-first. No Big Tech. That's the difference.

Changelog

This release quadruples XC Shield's form-builder coverage with native integrations for four of the most popular form plugins in the WordPress ecosystem. Each one layers Shield's cloud scoring on top of the builder's own anti-spam — nothing you already rely on gets replaced.

Added

Gravity Forms

  • Native integration through the dedicated gform_entry_is_spam anti-spam filter
  • Blocked entries land in the Gravity Forms Spam folder for one-click review and restore
  • Existing verdicts from the GF honeypot and the Akismet add-on are respected before any API call

Elementor Pro Forms

  • Server-side validation through the elementor_pro/forms/validation extension point
  • Clear, filterable block message shown under the form on spam verdicts
  • Form name forwarded with each analysis for per-form log filtering

Ninja Forms

  • Submission screening through the ninja_forms_submit_data filter
  • Spam halted before the entry is stored and before any action (email, webhook) runs

Fluent Forms

  • Validation integration for Fluent Forms 5.x with automatic fallback for 4.x installs
  • Per-request guard prevents duplicate analyses where legacy hooks are still mapped

Across All Four Integrations

  • Each integration toggles independently in XC Shield → Form Integrations
  • Builder-native anti-spam runs first; Shield's cloud scoring layers on top
  • Logged-in moderators are always exempt, so admins can safely test their own forms
  • --------------------
Minimum WordPress: 6.2
Minimum PHP: 7.4

First public release of XC Shield. This version delivers complete privacy-first spam protection for WordPress forms, powered by the EU-hosted Xania Shield API with no CAPTCHAs and no Big Tech dependencies.

Added

Core Protection Engine

  • Cumulative scoring engine returning allow, challenge, or block verdicts
  • Adjustable block and challenge thresholds per site
  • Protect, Monitor, and Off operating modes
  • Fail-open design so forms keep working if the API is unreachable

Form Integrations

  • WordPress comments protection
  • User registration protection
  • Contact Form 7 integration
  • WPForms integration
  • SureForms integration
  • WooCommerce checkout protection (Store API and HPOS-aware)
  • Contact Form Pro integration

Bot Detection

  • Dual honeypot fields using two independent hiding techniques
  • HMAC-signed timing token to detect instant bot submissions
  • Behavioural interaction signals to flag headless automation

Privacy Controls

  • Email transmission modes: full address, domain only, or SHA-256 hash
  • Optional sending of form fields and referrer
  • EU-hosted processing with no third-party AI and no cross-site tracking

Security

  • API key stored with AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption
  • Visitor IP detection defaulting to the connecting address only
  • Cloudflare and custom reverse-proxy modes with spoofing protection
  • Anti-SSRF request handling with strict SSL verification

Developer Tools

  • xc_shield_check() function to protect any custom form
  • Fail-safe behaviour that never breaks a form on internal error

Administration

  • Settings page with grouped Display, Behaviour, and Privacy options
  • Self-hosted automatic updates through the standard Plugins screen
  • Clean multisite-aware uninstall removing all stored data

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