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Tag: security

  • Why You Should Whitelist URLS on WordFence’s Firewall (And How to Do It)

    If you’re using Page Builder Sandwich along with Wordfence Security, there’s a chance you might have encountered something called a 403 error.

    Now, according to WordPress resource site WPBeginner, 403 errors occur when server permissions don’t allow access to a specific page.

    But what does a 403 error mean, and why is it occurring in Page Builder Sandwich in the first place?

    The 403 Error Explained

    The most common cause of the 403 error is when security plugins aren’t configured in a particular way or standard.

    Like WordFence, most security plugins from WordPress restrict some actions if they’re suspected or proven to be malicious. These scenarios usually occur on your WP Admin or WP Login page, or show up as pop-ups alerting you that you don’t have authorization to view your page.

    Here’s what the pop-up will look like if you ever encounter it on Sandwich:

    So what does this mean? Is Sandwich safe to use? Is WordFence bad? And does the 403 error warrant bad points for both Wordfence and Page Builder Sandwich?

    Well, no.

    All of this just means that Wordfence is extra careful when scanning your external plugins.

    And that’s actually a really good thing, especially since they’re a security plugin.

    WordFence is Legit…

    WordFence is one of the most popular security plugins for WordPress. It has over a million active installs, so chances are, it’s probably installed on your WP website, too. They exist for a great cause: Not just tokeep your website safe, but to also reduce security risks, and improve your website’s security overall.

    tl;dr WordFence is legit.

    …And So is Sandwich. But Why Does It Need Whitelisting?

    It’s not just Sandwich that WordFence blocks.

    Other plugins and URLS require whitelisting (the inverse of blacklisting) on WordFence, too. Some more popular plugins might have been allowed already by Wordfence.

    So what’s happening behind the scenes, and where is the 403 error coming from?

    Ajax Functions and Page Builder Sandwich

    Page Builder Sandwich performs ajax functions throughout your editing experience. Certain plugins do, too.

    W3Schools expounds on ajax a little further:

    AJAX is a technique for creating fast and dynamic web pages. It allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page.

    Chart taken from W3Schools

    In Page Builder Sandwich, the ajax calls range from getting shortcode mappings, rendering shortcodes to saving your changes. This might cause you to experience problems , such as the 403 error, problems with saving your output, or unrendered shortcodes. This is the time that you might need to whitelist ajax calls specific to Page Builder Sandwich.

    Whitelisting Page Builder Sandwich on WordFence

    To white list PBS in Wordfence’s Firewall, add an entry in the Whitelisted URLs area with these parameters:

    URL: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

    Param Name: main-content

    Param: POST Body

    For multisite WordPress installations, it’s a good idea to include your site’s folder name in the URL above. For example: /my-multisite/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

    After adding these values, the 403 Error should be properly addressed, and you should be able to save your output and generate rendered shortcodes again.

    This is what it should look like under your WordFence Firewall settings:

    Ta-da!

    Conclusion

    Yes, Page Builder Sandwich is safe to use.

    More than that, it only performs ajax actions when in editing mode, and it’s compatible with external plugins and themes (as long as they’re at par with WordPress’ coding standards).

    WordFence Security is no different.

    But what’s great about them is they give WordPress users the opportunity to keep their sites safe and secure, with the additional option to let you decide which plugins are, and aren’t.

  • Safety Measures in WordPress: The Importance of Backups

    safety-measures-in-wordpress-the-importance-of-backupsImagine this: Your first WordPress website, finally up and running. You’ve never felt this accomplished in months. You give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, and so do the people who’ve helped you accomplish the fruit of your labor. You install the plugins you need, and start planning further into your website’s future. It looks bright, and everything’s going swell.

    Until the unthinkable happens. And your site crashes.

    You shrug to yourself. You’ve heard of this kind of thing happening, even to the best of people. Heck, you’re sure Mark Zuckerberg and David Karp have had this kind of thing happen to them before, and they’re both doing just fine now, aren’t they?

    So you try to get it back up and running, Googling frantically for fixes. It doesn’t work the first try. It doesn’t work on the second either– or the third, or fourth, or the seventeenth, and even twenty-second. Your eyes widen at the realization that you’re completely and utterly doomed; your website is gone forever. You go through the web for a solution, but almost all of the how-to sites say the same thing:

    You should have backed up your WordPress files from the get-go.

    You should have backed up your WordPress files from the get-go.

    You should have backed up your WordPress files from the get-go.

    One of the website owner’s worst nightmares, at best. This exactly the kind of thing we want to avoid, so how exactly do we prevent it? Well, the answer is kind of simple: We need to install a good backup plugin.

    "a very "secure" bridge" by Garrett LeSage is licensed under CC BY-SA
    “a very “secure” bridge” by Garrett LeSage is licensed under CC BY-SA

    How and Where to Start?

    The first step in backing up your WordPress site is knowing exactly what it is you need to back up. WPBeginner, in their article “Which WordPress Files Should You Backup? And the Right Way To Do It”, the following are listed as the essential files needed to be backed-up for this task:

    • Core WordPress Files
    • Files in the wp-content Folder (your theme, plugins, and uploads)
    • WordPress configuration file
    • Your WordPress Database

    Backups Explained A Little Further

    WordPress alone doesn’t come with its own security and backup systems for your site (you could learn how to manually set them up, though– although that will take a lot of time), so it’s up to you to find a way to lessen complications. Updating your site is always a given (just in case you want to add in anything new to it, like another plugin, or if you want to take something down), and backups are must, unless you want to lose data (you don’t). Other reasons to back your site up and tighten security include the assurance that it’s hacker-free, and that no one gets to steal any of your site’s data.

    “There’s a Plugin for That, Too.”

    WordPress has tons of plugins for all kinds of features, including (yep, you guessed it) several for security and backup measures. There are a ton of these plugins you can choose from too; a few of the more popular ones include BackupBuddy and UpDraftPlus. There are reviews for these plugins (and more) almost everywhere, so don’t worry – the magic of the internet has your back. Personally, we use VaultPress, for both security and backup, for the following reasons:

    1. VaultPress was made by Automattic– founded by Matt Mullenweg– the same person who who founded WordPress itself. Many if not most of Automattic’s products and service are fool-proof, and it’s never a bad idea to subscribe to plugins that have already been tried and tested.
    2. Unlike most backup plugins, VaultPress doesn’t require storage space. They store your stuff in their own servers so you won’t get any “you’re-eating-up-a-lot-of-the-server-space” notices from your web host.
    3. Simplicity. To use it, you just need to log into your UI, and you can view all your backup details and perform operations from there.

    Now, because VaultPress meets our personal standards, it works for us perfectly. However, if you’re not satisfied with VaultPress, many sites – such as WPBeginner and wpmudev — offer the usual compare-and-contrast article in case you have any more trouble deciding.

    All Up to You

    At the end of the day, the decision of whether or not to secure and backup your website is up to you. Some people are confident they’ll be able to face of the risks an unsecured site presents… and some people aren’t – and that’s okay. It’s better to be safe than sorry, after all.

    Whichever decision you stick to, always remember to weigh in your options. After all, only you can gauge what it is you’re capable of handling.

    Good luck!