WordPress is popular for a reason. If your business site requires multiple people to log in, update content, change settings and collaborate, WordPress has you covered.
Setting up a multi-user site has never been easier, but it does come at a cost. With a big team it’s easy to lose track of what everyone is doing, and step in if something goes wrong.
This is why it’s important to track your WordPress user login history. It doesn’t have to be complicated either. By installing a WordPress user tracking plugin (also known as activity log plugin), you can track, monitor and manage user activity with little effort.
In this article, we’re going to show you how to track WordPress login history with WP Activity Log. This plugin is an easy-to-use WordPress user tracking plugin with a comprehensive activity log.
WP Activity Log allows you to track the activity of your WordPress users without you having to do a thing. It also allows you to:
- Keep a log of all activity including changes to content, your system and settings
- Receive alerts of critical site changes via SMS or email so you can be informed at all times
- Manage and track users in real-time, just in case you need to take action
- Store your WordPress activity logs externally so your site remains lightning fast
In this guide, we’ll be showing you how to set-up and use WP Activity Log for your WordPress website. All so that you can get tracking your users and get on with the more important stuff.
Why you should track your user login history
If you run a WordPress news site, online store or business website you should track WordPress user login history. On top of that, with a user tracking plugin you also can understand what’s being changed on your site. Here are a few situations you should look out for:
1. A hacker has gained access to your site but you don’t know what they’ve done
WordPress itself is a secure software. However, many website owners fail to keep the software up to date and use weak passwords. So many sites are prone to having vulnerabilities.
Even if your site has some great WordPress security plugins installed, being able to pinpoint the damage done by a hacker could save your site from a lot of damage and a whole lot of time wastage.
With WP Activity Log, you can check your log and see the time, date, role and the IP address of the user who made the change. With all this information and the information from other log files on your web server you can then work to find the cause of the hack and mitigate any security flaws you might have.
2. A verified user has made some changes to your site that you never knew about
In this scenario, you have multiple users on your site making changes to blog posts, or product listings and even WordPress settings. If you don’t have a user tracking plugin installed you don’t know what they’re doing.
We want to give your users the benefit of the doubt here, but in this case, one of your users has changed a setting in WordPress which messes up your site. Basically, they’ve changed something they really shouldn’t have, either by mistake or on purpose.
If you didn’t have a user tracking plugin installed, you wouldn’t know about the change until you spotted it. But with WP Security Audit Log installed, you get a notification alerting you to the change so you can fix it quickly.
3. It will improve user accountability and productivity
If you’re running a multi-user site, the logs you keep will ensure that each user is held individually accountable for the changes they make on your site. Similarly, if you run an e-commerce / WooCommerce store. Knowing who is processing orders, making changes to settings, creating discount coupons, changing prices, and general updates with a WooCommerce activity log plugin is vital to spot mistakes and correct them quickly.
Once corrected, it’s then up to the individual user to learn and adapt moving forward. Don’t use activity logs to punish users who make mistakes. Use them to help users learn from these mistakes and improve.
4. Tracking will meet regulatory compliance requirements and other standards
Depending on the type of website you run, you most likely need to keep a log of your site activity to be compliant. Whether you need to be GDPR, PCI DSS, FISMA or ISO compliant (to name a few), WordPress activity logs will help you get there.
If you need more information on how compliance might affect your site and business, and how activity logs can help, check out these articles:
- Can Using WP Activity Log on GDPR complaint websites
- PCI DSS for WordPress | Requirement 10: Track & Monitor All Access
How to track your WordPress site’s user login history
The easiest and quickest way to track your WordPress site’s user login history is by using a user tracking plugin. WP Activity Log is the most comprehensive activity log plugin and is simple and easy to set-up.
How to install WP Activity Log
Installing the WP Activity Log plugin takes just a few minutes and is as simple as adding any other plugin. To get started, get your 14-day free trial of WP Security Audit Log.
Then follow these steps:
- Go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
- Choose the zip file you downloaded, upload, and then click Activate
- Once activated, you’ll need to enter your licence key
Next, you’ll see a popup asking if you’d like to configure the plugin’s settings. Click yes and WP Activity Log will take you through a quick wizard to help you get set up.
This setup should only take a few seconds. Once you’re done, click Finish and the activity log plugin will start tracking your WordPress user login history without you having to lift a finger.
How to see user activity in the activity log
Once tracking, to view your WordPress user activity, do the following:
- Go to Activity Log
It’s here you’ll be able to see all activity on your site including user login history, updates, changes and more. To delve deeper, you can use the search function to find specific updates.
How to track real-time user sessions with WP Activity Log
WP Activity Log allows you to see who is logged into your website site in real-time. To see this activity, do the following:
- Go to Activity Log > Logged in Users
Here you can see how many people are logged in, what they’ve been up to and if you need to, you can terminate their session.
By clicking on the User Sessions Management tab, you can amend how many people can be logged in with one username at the same time and what message they get when you terminate their session.
Keeping track of WordPress user logins & much more…
If you’re looking to keep your site secure and improve users accountability, then using a WordPress user tracking plugin is a must. With WP Activity Log in place, you can rest easy knowing that should something go wrong, you’ll know exactly what it is and when it happened.
By investing in WP Activity Log, you’ll be able to:
- Get instant alerts via SMS and email so you can act quickly
- See who is logged in to your website real-time so you can terminate suspicious activity
- Generate custom activity reports for your business
- Track changes to some of the most well-used third-party plugins such as WooCommerce, Yoast, WPForms and more
Start keeping an activity log and a track of WordPress user logins today with a 14-day free trial of WP Activity Log.
The post How to track WordPress user login history with activity logs appeared first on WP Activity Log.
Source: Security Feed