Plugins created by me, in which personal or confidential data is entered, always contain a method to store this data in a secure manner. Let me briefly describe this in more detail.

An extremely important and justified question! Plugins created by me, in which personal or confidential data is entered, always contain a method for securely storing this data in encrypted form. Let me briefly describe this in more detail. Preliminary remark This is not about creating backups. The topic of this article is a description of how plugins developed by me handle data worthy of protection. As the website operator, you are responsible for backing up your website's data. Basic ideas There are various methods of implementing encryption. The German Federal Ministry for Security has provided an article on this here: https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Verbraucherinnen-und-Verbraucher/Informationen-und-Empfehlungen/Cyber-Sicherheitsempfehlungen/Daten-sichern-verschluesseln-und-loeschen/Datenverschluesselung/datenverschluesselung_node.html They recommend the use of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), which according to current knowledge is the way to go. However, this alone is not enough, as you should not only think about the encryption method but also about where the necessary key is stored. Use in my plugins Each of my plugins that require this therefore contains a component that provides AES encryption based on PHP's own functions. In hosting where OpenSSL is available, this is also used. If OpenSSL is not available, Sodium is used. The encrypted data is stored in WordPress' own database. Keys are required for both methods. These are neither stored in the files of my plugins nor in the project's database, but in the project's wp-config.php. If the wp-config.php cannot be written to, a must-use plugin is created that contains the key. This means that the encrypted data and the key for decryption are logically separated. According to my research, this corresponds to the ISO/IEC 27002 standard. Advantages of this method Unlike other solutions, the user of the plugin does not have to worry about this protection. My plugins do this fully automatically in the background. This means that there is literally no effort required to set it up. Disadvantages Of course, there are also disadvantages. If the key is lost, the encrypted data can no longer be decrypted. The website operator should therefore make sure to include the wp-config.php and/or the must-use plugin in his data backup. This is the only way to restore the key used and access your data in the event of unexpected problems with one of the files. Interested? The code for the above is included as a GPL license in the respective free plugins. An example can be found here: https://github.com/threadi/wp-personio-integration-light/blob/master/app/Plugin/Crypt.php If you have any questions, please contact me :-)

External files in the media library

WordPress plugin

free of charge

media library

Add one or more files, including their URLs, under „Media → Add New Media File.“ This allows you to use external files anywhere the media library is available.

Plugin page:

https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/external-files-in-media-library/

Support forum: https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/external-files-in-media-library/

GitHub repository: https://github.com/threadi/external-files-in-media-library

Articles

How is the data I enter backed up?
Plugins created by me, in which personal or confidential data is entered, always contain a method to store this data in a secure manner. Let me briefly describe this in more detail. Read more
Frequently Asked Questions
Offer external files for download in WooCommerce
The plugin „External files in the media library“ also makes it possible to offer digital products in WooCommerce whose files are not located in your own hosting. Read here how to use external sources for this. Read more
use case
Why can't I unpack a ZIP?
The „External files in the media library“ plugin makes it possible to unpack ZIP files in the media library. The requirements for this are described here. Read more
Frequently Asked Questions
Use files from your AWS S3
The „External files in the media library“ plugin allows you to use files from various external sources, e.g. from AWS S3. Read more
feature
How can I import files from a public Google Drive?
It is entirely possible to import files available in a public Google Drive into your media library as external files. However, there are a few things to keep in mind when doing so. Read more
Frequently Asked Questions
Integrate files via WordPress REST API
The „External files in the media library“ plugin allows you to use files from various external sources, e.g. via the WordPress REST API. Read more
feature
I want to upload .tar.gz files—how do I do that?
Files with the extensions .gz and .tar.gz are not permitted by WordPress itself. This is primarily for security reasons, as these files are unfortunately often used for attacks or to infiltrate malware. With the plugin „External Files for the Media Library,“ you can still upload them to WordPress—as described here. Read more
Frequently Asked Questions
Settings for file types
You can determine how the plugin handles file types supported by WordPress. The default settings allow all files to be stored externally. Read more
settings
Automatically populate a list with downloads
By combining two plugins I developed, you can display a download list maintained via FTP on your own website without having to use the backend regularly. Read more
use case
Integrate files from the local server
The plugin „External files in the media library“ allows you to use files from various external sources, e.g. from the server on which WordPress itself is installed. Read more
feature