Email notifications keep you informed about security issues even when you’re not logged into WordPress. Configure alerts to match your workflow and ensure you never miss a critical finding.
Enabling Email Notifications #
1. Go to Content Guard Pro → Settings
2. Find the Notifications section
3. Check Enable Email Alerts
4. Configure the options below
5. Click Save Changes
Configuration Options #
Email Recipients #
Specify who receives alerts:
1. Find Email Recipients field
2. Enter email addresses (one per line)
3. Default: Site admin email
Example:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Alert Mode #
Choose when emails are sent:
| Mode | Behavior | Best For |
| —— | ———- | ———- |
| Immediate | Email sent for each finding | Small sites, critical monitoring |
| Daily Digest | One summary email per day | Larger sites, reduced email volume |
Severity Threshold #
Control which findings trigger emails:
| Setting | Emails Sent For |
| ——— | —————– |
| Critical only | Only Critical severity findings |
| Suspicious and above | Critical + Suspicious findings |
| All findings | Critical + Suspicious + Review |
Recommendation: Start with “Critical only” and expand if needed.
Email Content #
Immediate Alert Email #
Contains:
- Finding severity and confidence score
- Affected content (post title, ID)
- Detection rule that triggered
- Matched content excerpt (sanitized)
- Direct link to review the finding
- Link to quarantine immediately
Example Subject:
[Critical] Content Guard Pro Alert: External script detected on yoursite.com
Daily Digest Email #
Contains:
- Summary counts by severity
- List of findings grouped by severity
- Links to review each finding
- Overall site security status
- Link to full findings page
Example Subject:
[Daily Report] Content Guard Pro: 3 Critical, 5 Suspicious findings
Testing Email Delivery #
Send Test Email #
1. Go to Content Guard Pro → Settings
2. Click Send Test Email (in Notifications section)
3. Check recipient inboxes
4. Verify email arrives and displays correctly
Troubleshooting Delivery #
If test emails don’t arrive:
1. Check spam/junk folders
2. Verify email configuration:
– WordPress email sending works
– SMTP plugin configured (if using)
3. Check email logs:
– Use a plugin like “WP Mail Logging”
– Verify emails are being sent
4. Check recipient validity:
– Ensure addresses are correct
– Check for typos
Email Timing #
Immediate Alerts #
- Sent within minutes of finding detection
- Triggered during scans (scheduled or manual)
- Also triggered by on-save scanning
Daily Digest #
- Sent at a configurable time
- Default: 8:00 AM site timezone
- Contains findings from previous 24 hours
- Only sent if findings exist
Configuring Digest Time #
Currently, digest is sent during the morning. Custom timing available in future versions.
Reducing Email Volume #
Too Many Emails? #
1. Increase severity threshold – Only Critical findings
2. Switch to digest mode – One email per day
3. Add trusted services to allowlist – Reduces false positives
4. Disable for Review severity – Focus on real threats
Optimizing Detection #
- Review findings that generate many alerts
- Add legitimate services to allowlist
- Report false positives to improve detection
Multiple Recipients #
Different Alerts for Different People #
Currently, all recipients receive the same alerts. For role-based alerting:
1. Use severity threshold to control overall volume
2. Set up email forwarding rules in your email client
3. Consider webhook integration for advanced routing
Future Enhancement #
Custom alert routing per recipient planned for future versions.
Email Security #
Sanitized Content #
Malicious content in emails is sanitized:
- Scripts are escaped, not executed
- Links are displayed as text
- No active content in email body
Secure Links #
Links in emails:
- Go to your WordPress admin
- Require WordPress authentication
- Use nonces for security
Disabling Notifications #
Temporarily #
1. Go to Settings
2. Uncheck Enable Email Alerts
3. Settings are preserved for re-enabling
For Specific Events #
Use severity threshold to exclude certain findings while keeping others active.
Integration with Other Systems #
For advanced notification needs:
- Use Webhook integration for custom routing
- Connect to Slack, Teams, or PagerDuty via webhooks
- Build custom notification handlers via REST API
See Webhook Configuration for details.
