Each website owner must take the time to learn the value of using .htaccess. It allows you to customize your site so that it performs optimally throughout all of its applications. One of the ways in which it helps you to run your website much more effectively, is that it enables you to deny access to key areas within the site itself. So, why is this important? For starters, profane website contributors on blogs can cause unrest among your more loyal followers. Also, you need to understand how to deny access to key areas such as administrative sections so that the website cannot be altered without your permission. Denying access prevents “bad bots” from taking hold, and it can deny visitors by referrers.
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| Deny Access Through .htaccess |
If you own a website, then you should be the only one who gets to access administrative areas within the site. If you do not block access, then your webpages can be changed for the worse. Spamming becomes more of a problem under this circumstance as well. Unwanted emails designed to steal personal information are easier to attain when areas of your website grant access to all. People who are unfamiliar with the ways in which spammers work, are often the victims. These same people then unwittingly spread the harmful spam to others.
A profane website visitor not only has the ability to deter legitimate people from using your site, but also the ability to bring negative publicity. Many people owe a great deal of their business success to the opportunities that online ventures afford. It is this potential financial success that sometimes makes people drop their guard, thus allowing profane visitors to proliferate their message. Even though you might not endorse their controversial statements, they will still ward off people that you need in order to remain successful.
Sometimes people try to hack your website by stealing your password and personal identifying information. When this occurs, you must deny access through .htaccess. For example, if you find that one particular webpage becomes compromised more than others, then you must revamp that page or get rid of it altogether. Often, immediately denying access to an offending hacker will allow you to establish a rep for not being easily accessed by criminals.
Programs which visit other websites to steal content, find security weaknesses, and source email addresses, are called bad bots. Bad bots scan a site to procure email addresses, for example. Those email addresses are then used in order to send out mass spamming emails. Most of these contain legitimate-looking business names, and they make realistic requests for money or information.
The elderly are particularly susceptible to this issue because they might forget how to scan for the issues. More serious, however, is the bad bot’s ability to locate security holes by testing different aspects of the website discreetly. Once the security holes are identified, personal information can be stolen with ease. Use .htaccess to deny access to aspects of the site which contain sensitive information. For detailed ways to deny traffic through .htaccess read the post Htaccess Deny From All.