How to Improve Website Security with WordPress Activity Logs

You can add activity logging functionality to your WordPress site by installing a plugin and can easily manage various settings from the dashboard. Fortunately, this approach is very affordable. Especially for WP Action Log, this is one of the most popular options on the market as it is very powerful in terms of features and functionality.

In this post, we'll cover how to build a WordPress security audit log using this popular and full-featured plugin. But before we dive in, let's figure out what WordPress Security Audit Log is and why you need it.

What is the WordPress Security Audit Log

The WordPress security audit log goes by many different names; you may have heard terms like activity log, audit trail, and so on. Regardless of what it's called, it's really just a text report that records all the activity on your site.

WordPress does not include a built-in login tracking feature by default. While you can turn on wp_debug to log errors, this debugging log, while helpful in certain scenarios, doesn't provide the detailed information that the activity log does. Instead, specialized plugins can help you get a more complete picture of the various things happening on your site. For example:

• Record user activity, such as when to log in and log out, with each action time-stamped.
• Keep track of the specifics of who creates, edits and publishes articles.
• Monitor system changes, such as file changes, theme and plugin updates, etc.
• If you run a WooCommerce online store, activity logs can also help you collect data on business activities related to your website.

Security audit logs can provide a wealth of information and data, but it is important to know how to utilize this information. It's important to understand how to use the benefits of WordPress' security audit logs.

Why WordPress Security Audit Logs are Critical to Website Security
There are three main benefits to using a WordPress security audit log on your website:

1. Improve Security: You may not always notice security issues or undetected hacking right away. Activity logs can reveal unusual behaviors and help you start working on fixing them.
2. Resolve technical issues more quickly: the activity log allows you to view the specific actions performed on the site before the issue arose, which can help you identify the problem and resolve it more quickly.
3. Manage Users More Effectively: In combination with other strategies, such as setting strict user permissions, activity logs can help you better manage your website users and ensure that your website is stable and secure.

In short, WordPress activity logs help improve website security, reduce troubleshooting time, and help you better manage your website users.

Introduction to WP Activity Log

If you want to improve user accountability, increase productivity and enhance site security, thenWP Activity LogThe plugin is what you need. With this plugin installed, you'll be able to monitor your WordPress site in real time and comprehensively, so you can control it better.

The WP Activity Log plugin offers a lot of out-of-the-box functionality:

• Detailed logging of all activity on your site, such as logins, errors, modified content, etc., also includes activity from other plugins, such as WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, Gravity Forms, and more.
• This plugin tracks changes to your website files and alerts you to any important changes via configurable emails and SMS.
• You can search for any keyword in the Activity Log and use filters to refine the results.
• Provides rich reporting and analytics tools to help you better understand user activity on the backend of your site.
• WP Activity Log is available in both free and paid versions to meet the needs of different users. To learn more, you can check outPricing page for WP Activity LogThe