Password Protect WordPress Blog
2010-02-28 Initial Post
I looked into this briefly, not too long ago, and didn't find anything simple for password protecting an entire WordPress blog. The other day I was looking around cPanel and noticed an option for password protection. The option is not specific to WordPress but for any folder in your account. It allows you to password protect any of your site's folders, including the folder that hosts your WordPress site. So the end result is that you can password protect your WordPress blog. Here's how to do that:
Log on to your BlueHost account, in cPanel under the Security section --> select Password Protect Directories --> select Web root (the globe icon) --> Go --> select the directory to password protect --> give the protected folder a more descriptive name (you can pick any name) and create a user account and password.
Some things to note:
- Unless you have SSL enabled, the user name and password will be sent in clear text. That being said, this type of password protection should not be used to protect sensitive personal info. It's only meant to keep the casual hacker away. I would only use this for a site that has info such as my name and address, but I would not use it to protect a site that stores my social security or bank account numbers.
- For good security (as good as it can get in this situation) create a long user name and password with letters, numbers, and special characters.
- My instructions refer to BlueHost only, but other hosts with cPanel should have the same or similar option for password protecting a folder.
