A compromised WordPress plugin can exfiltrate data without triggering a single inbound firewall rule. Force all PHP outbound traffic through a local Squid proxy and use a Python correlation script to trace every external connection back to the exact script and site that made it.

Every public server gets scanned constantly. A practical overview of config-file harvesters, vulnerability scanners, credential-stuffing bots, and directory brute-forcers — what they look for, why they hurt performance even when they fail, and how to keep them from reaching your application.