Do you run a multi-author blog WordPress website? Or does your website allow users to create user accounts( a membership site)? If so, you stumbled across the right article. Hackers use a plethora of methods to hack a website. So, for you to secure your website thoroughly, you must know every detail of what’s going on your website. But how? How can you keep track of the bazillion things happening on your website?

The answer the simple; all you need to do is monitor user activity. Ironically, the solution itself can lead to other questions like “How to monitor user activity in WordPress?” But don’t worry because this article will clear your doubts and help you monitor user activity with the help of security audit logs on your WordPress website.

What Is A Security Audit Log?

The security audit logs are also commonly known as audit logs, activity logs, or security logs. WordPress audit logs are just like any other logs; activity logs are a record of data regarding any change that occurs in a website. Every minute change that happens in your website will be tracked and stored in your WordPress database.

Getting your hands on these WordPress activity logs will help you in monitoring user activity on your website. The activity logs have information like user role, date, time, IP address, and more. However, accessing the WordPress security audit logs is complicated. But finding a solution to “not-so-easy” things on WordPress is not complicated. Various WordPress activity log plugins will help you track user activity on your website.

How Are WordPress Activity Logs Helpful?

As long as your website isn’t run only by you, depending on security logs is the best decision you could make. Yes, we know that activity logs are helpful, but how exactly? 

If your WordPress has multiple users, then the possibility of making security mistakes increase with the number of people using the website. It might be your friends, colleagues, or anyone you trust, but errors are unavoidable sometimes.

But tracking user activity will help you pinpoint the issue and fix it as immediately as possible. The logs show which user has made a mistake, and you can ensure to teach the particular user to avoid it from happening again.

WordPress security logs are well-known for finding issues and helping fix them. If you are a WordPress user, you must have never gone without using a plugin or a theme. However, sometimes, installing a plugin or a theme can create issues due to compatibility issues.

Sometimes, bugs can take over your website accidentally. Nevertheless, we cannot avoid the usage of plugins or themes. But activity logs can help in troubleshooting the issues introduced due to the installation of these software add-ons. Time is invaluable, and user activity logs can help you fix the faults by saving a lot of your time.

Why Do You Need To Monitor User Activity

The following points will help you understand the benefits of tracking user activity on your website:

Website Security

Activity logs record many things like failed login attempts, changes made to the website unbeknownst to you, changes made to the plugins, and more. This data can be insightful for you to realize that the cyber attack attempts are being or have already been made on your website. This way, you can rush to your website’s aid and fix the hack as soon as possible. It also tracks the vulnerabilities of your website and helps you tighten your website security.

Improves User Responsibility

If you know that someone is watching us, we act more responsibly. The same applies to the users of your website. The transparency of security audit logs will make the users of your website not make any mistakes.

Finding Solutions

As we have already discussed earlier, audit log files will store information on all kinds of changes. This data will help you find solutions to many issues because most issues occur due to the changes made to the website. So finding the alter in the website will help find a fix to the fault.

Website Management

There are instances where you manage a client’s website, and having activity logs will be admirable proof to show that you are doing your job well.

How To Monitor User Activity?

We have already established that we can monitor user activity using activity logs. However, we can only access the activity logs using WordPress audit log plugins. Here are two well-received plugins that help track user activity on your website:

Simple History

If you are still unsure about monitoring user activity, starting with a free WordPress login like the Simple history plugin might change your mind. It helps track changes of the content and your website, track changes made to plugins, widgets, comments, failed login attempts, users, user profiles, and many more.

WP Activity Log

The WP activity log plugin is much more advanced and has many features to track the user activity on your website. However, it is not a free plugin though it comes in a free version too. It can track log changes, plugin(like Woocommerce) changes and lets you know about everything that happens on your website. 

Its premium version also notifies you with SMS or e-mails regarding specific website events. It can work with third-party tools and move the logs elsewhere for increased security.

A WordPress user always cares for his website, and the welfare of the website depends on the website’s security. Most WordPress owners use security plugins like the Hide My WP plugin to protect their websites from various cyber-attacks. Here are some valuable features of the Hide My WP:

• It helps hide your website from theme detectors and bots.
• It hides common paths like /wp-login.php and /wp-admin.
• It has an IDS engine that autoblocks attack like  SQL, XSS, CSRF, Command Injection, and more.
• It has a robust trust network that actively protects WordPress from unknown attackers.
• It lets you access your website login page with a specific URL or key.
• It lets you alter anything your website source code.

Conclusion

If you are a WordPress owner that runs a multi-user website, tracking the WP user activity will be very helpful to you. It helps you track website issues, vulnerabilities, improve website security and know everything that happens on your website.

As we know, knowledge is power, and you can gain knowledge regarding your website with the help of security audit logs. Various WordPress plugins like the Simple history and WP Activity log will help you track your website activity. If you haven’t already, try monitoring your website user activity, and you will not regret it.

Also Read: How to Fix the WordPress Pharma Hack?