Book Image

WordPress 3 Ultimate Security

Book Image

WordPress 3 Ultimate Security

Overview of this book

Most likely – today – some hacker tried to crack your WordPress site, its data and content – maybe once but, with automated tools, very likely dozens or hundreds of times. There's no silver bullet but if you want to cut the odds of a successful attack from practically inevitable to practically zero, read this book. WordPress 3 Ultimate Security shows you how to hack your site before someone else does. You'll uncover its weaknesses before sealing them off, securing your content and your day-to-day local-to-remote editorial process. This is more than some "10 Tips ..." guide. It's ultimate protection – because that's what you need. Survey your network, using the insight from this book to scan for and seal the holes before galvanizing the network with a rack of cool tools. Solid! The WordPress platform is only as safe as the weakest network link, administrator discipline, and your security knowledge. We'll cover the bases, underpinning your working process from any location, containing content, locking down the platform, your web files, the database, and the server. With that done, your ongoing security is infinitely more manageable. Covering deep-set security yet enjoyable to read, WordPress 3 Ultimate Security will multiply your understanding and fortify your site.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
WordPress 3 Ultimate Security
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Firewalling the web with ModSecurity


In Chapter 10, we installed a firewall to protect the server, but we left open the web ports 80 and 443. If we block those, of course, we block access to our sites. What we need are alternative strategies for filtering malicious web traffic, and techniques abound in these pages. Have another.

Conceived by Ivan Ristic and developed by a team of head honcho security pros, this open source firewall is a prudent partial umbrella for applications such as WordPress:

It sits in front of a web server to allow or deny requests depending on your rules which can be set on a cross-site and per site basis. It logs the lot and offers real-time analysis.

It can be installed embedded within the Apache process, which is explained here, else set up as a reverse proxy to protect a series of web servers whether Apache or not.

Installing mod-security, the Apache module

As usual, there...