Title: Google Project Shield
Last modified: March 19, 2023

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# Google Project Shield

 *  Resolved [foreclosurepedia](https://wordpress.org/support/users/foreclosurepedia/)
 * (@foreclosurepedia)
 * [3 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/google-project-shield/)
 * Google Project Shield is a program to protect at risk journalists, such as myself.
   In essence, we point the A Record to Google and they handle the rest, but it 
   is more of mirroring than being hosted by them. [This is the link to their instructions for the Firewall](https://support.projectshield.withgoogle.com/s/article/Website-firewalls-and-why-you-should-have-them?language=en_US).
   NTP is enabled and Use the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header is selected. It logs the
   Google IP correctly as well as the one I use to log in from at home. Nothing 
   has been entered into the Trusted Proxies box. I also run MFA for myself, as 
   admin, only.
 * Project Shield has three dedicated IP ranges:
 * 35.235.224.0/20
   34.96.0.0/2034.127.192.0/18
 * [From Project Shield](https://support.projectshield.withgoogle.com/s/article/Website-firewalls-and-why-you-should-have-them?language=en_US#:~:text=When%20you%20set%20up%20your%20firewall%20rules%2C%20you%20can%20limit%20them%20to%20these%C2%A0ranges.%C2%A0%20Please%20make%20sure%20all%20three%20ranges%20are%20included%20in%20your%20firewall%20allow%20list.%C2%A0%20Other%20IP%20ranges%20should%20be%20denied%20access%20to%20your%20origin%2C%20by%20setting%20a%20catch%2Dall%20firewall%20rule%20for%20traffic%20not%20matching%20the%20Shield%20ranges),“
   When you set up your firewall rules, you can limit them to these ranges. Please
   make sure all three ranges are included in your firewall allow list. Other IP
   ranges should be denied access to your origin, by setting a catch-all firewall
   rule for traffic not matching the Shield ranges.”
 * Is there somewhere in Wordfence I handle this? If not, could you advise me how
   to accomplish this in .htaccess utilizing the CIDR ranges above?
 * Thanks!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Plugin Support [wfpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfpeter/)
 * (@wfpeter)
 * [3 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/google-project-shield/#post-16576446)
 * Hi [@foreclosurepedia](https://wordpress.org/support/users/foreclosurepedia/),
   thanks for your question.
 * Whilst there are ways of automatically blocking IPs that attempt to access a 
   list of pages/paths on your site, there would be no way of then opening that 
   page back up to your IP range without also exempting the range from all other
   Wordfence rules; which can be dangerous.
 * There _are_ **.htaccess** changes that could help give the desired result, although
   we’re unable to support anything outside of the Wordfence plugin going forward:
 * [https://wordpress.org/support/article/brute-force-attacks/#limit-access-to-wp-login-php-by-ip](https://wordpress.org/support/article/brute-force-attacks/#limit-access-to-wp-login-php-by-ip)
 * [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4400154/deny-all-allow-only-one-ip-through-htaccess](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4400154/deny-all-allow-only-one-ip-through-htaccess)
 * Thanks,
   Peter.
 *  Thread Starter [foreclosurepedia](https://wordpress.org/support/users/foreclosurepedia/)
 * (@foreclosurepedia)
 * [3 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/google-project-shield/#post-16577396)
 * I appreciate such a quick reply! I am currently running Wordfence and have for
   some years now. So, obviously I want to deploy Project Shield _in conjunction_
   with Wordfence. My theory is that it is similar to how Cloudflare works. They
   are a reverse proxy, by statement and definition which is why I stated that _NTP
   is enabled and Use the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header is selected _referencing my
   Wordfence settings. I presume they are correct (but do not know) and still do
   not know if their IPs should be added into the Trusted Proxies in Wordfence.
 * I will forward this to Project Shield and look forward to your reply and will
   post theirs, regardless. As it is a Google Project, I believe it has significant
   value not only to journalists such as myself, but the entirety of the internet
   based upon the ability to learn from the data traffic itself, much like Wordfence.
 *  Thread Starter [foreclosurepedia](https://wordpress.org/support/users/foreclosurepedia/)
 * (@foreclosurepedia)
 * [3 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/google-project-shield/#post-16580837)
 * Below was the reply from the Google Lead Engineer. Do you have suggestions how
   to deploy this within Wordfence, sans the .htaccess file? Both are currently 
   running; however, the “locking down of the IP addresses” so to speak has not 
   begun as it still reads no firewall protection deployed on the Google side.
 * “The guidance for the firewall rules is intended to protect your origin from 
   direct attacks. The location of your origin is discoverable information, so attackers
   could hit it directly and bypass Shield.
 * All of your legitimate traffic should now be passing through Project Shield. 
   Therefore, you should be able to block everything that is not Shield from reaching
   your origin. If you also want to allow some other Wordfence IPs at their recommendation,
   that’s ok – blocking most of the rest of the internet is still a clear improvement
   to the safety of your server.
 * We advise you to do this for any page that is publicly accessible – not just 
   your login. You want to block access to any page an attacker could hit. Unfortunately
   we are not able to assist directly with your origin setup. I can say that a .
   htaccess file is a common method of doing this kind of blocking, and those articles
   look like the right information.
 * Lastly, we do want to reassure you that you already have a lot of protection 
   without taking this last step. This is a recommended step, but not required.”

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Google Project Shield’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [foreclosurepedia](https://wordpress.org/support/users/foreclosurepedia/)
 * Last activity: [3 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/google-project-shield/#post-16580837)
 * Status: resolved