Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Save more on your purchases! discount-offer-chevron-icon
Savings automatically calculated. No voucher code required.
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
Arrow up icon
GO TO TOP
WordPress 3 Ultimate Security

You're reading from   WordPress 3 Ultimate Security WordPress is for everyone and so is this brilliant book on making your site impenetrable to hackers. This jargon-lite guide covers everything from stopping content scrapers to understanding disaster recovery.

Arrow left icon
Product type Paperback
Published in Jun 2011
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781849512107
Length 408 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Languages
Concepts
Arrow right icon
Toc

Table of Contents (23) Chapters Close

WordPress 3 Ultimate Security
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
So What's the Risk? Hack or Be Hacked FREE CHAPTER Securing the Local Box Surf Safe Login Lock-Down 10 Must-Do WordPress Tasks Galvanizing WordPress Containing Content Serving Up Security Solidifying Unmanaged Defense in Depth Plugins for Paranoia Don't Panic! Disaster Recovery Security Policy Essential Reference Index

Nuking the wp_ tables prefix


The WordPress database, like any other that isn't brand new, comprises a bunch of tables. These tables have one thing in common, the default WordPress prefix. This way, you have wp_options, wp_posts, wp_users, and so on.

The security issue with this structure is that, a bit like the old default admin user account, hackers know about these default table names and, if a flaw exists, they are more likely to successfully exploit them with an SQL injection attack. So what to do?

We can't change the name of each and every table. We can, however, change their uniform prefix. Here's how, using Semper Fi's stalwart plugin WP Security Scan:

Backing up the database

Good point, well said. After all, this is a major change. In the unlikely event that you encounter a problem, you will need a very recent backup to restore from.

Automated prefix change

Having installed and activated WP Security Scan, check your...

lock icon The rest of the chapter is locked
Register for a free Packt account to unlock a world of extra content!
A free Packt account unlocks extra newsletters, articles, discounted offers, and much more. Start advancing your knowledge today.
Unlock this book and the full library FREE for 7 days
Get unlimited access to 7000+ expert-authored eBooks and videos courses covering every tech area you can think of
Renews at $19.99/month. Cancel anytime
Banner background image