Allowing multiple content creators to publish on your WordPress site comes with the risk that authors may accidentally (or intentionally) modify other contributors‘ unpublished content. In this post, we will explore proven techniques to restrict author access and mitigate content security issues for multi-author publishes.
The Growing Threat of Insider Content Security Risks
WordPress powers over 43% of all websites, with a large portion relying on collaborator publishing models. However, in a recent survey, over 60% of publishers reported issues related to contributors improperly accessing drafts or unpublished content.
Additional industry analysis shows:
- 78% increase in insider content theft over the past 2 years
- Average loss of $1.6 million per business from insider threat incidents
- Over 25% of web traffic is now generated by logged-in site users
As multi-author publishing scales, granular user access controls are crucial to securing proprietary content, maintaining exclusivity rights, and controlling visibility of pre-release materials.
Fortunately, WordPress offers robust hooks to restrict permissions once plugins extend its core capabilities.
Leveraging PublishPress Plugins to Limit Author Access
PublishPress is the market leader for advanced WordPress permissions management. Their solutions enable secure, multi-layer access strategies similar to enterprise systems.
We will cover two free PublishPress modules – Capabilities and Permissions – to selectively restrict author visibility.
Overview of Key Settings
When activated together, the plugins provide these core access controls:
| Plugin | Function |
|---|---|
| PublishPress Permissions | Authors restricted to own posts |
| PublishPress Capabilities | Editors can view/edit all posts |
Publishers can also selectively limit access to any piece of content at the individual post/page level for additional defense in depth.
Now, let‘s walk through the step-by-step process to configure these plugins for author isolation…
Configuring PublishPress Capabilities
PublishPress Capabilities enables configuring fine-grained roles and permissions. After installing:
- Navigate to Capabilities > Roles
- Select the Editor role
- Check "Edit others" to allow Editors to access all posts
- Enable "List others posts" so Editors can view all draft and published content
Here is a sample configuration for the Editor role:
Fig 1.0 – PublishPress Capability Settings for the Editor Role
With these settings, Editors can administrate all user-generated posts while Authors remain siloed.
Locking Down Author Access with PublishPress Permissions
PublishPress Permissions takes restrictions even further with out-of-box options to isolate Authors. After activating:
- Authors automatically limited to only their own posts
- Admins and Editors retain full access
We can also apply restrictions on a per post/page basis:
- Edit the post
- Expand "Permissions: Edit this post"
- Change access to "Blocked" for certain roles
- Leave enabled for those who need access
- Update post
For example, to grant Editors exclusive access to a post:
Fig 2.0 – Post-level content locking in PublishPress
This methodology limits exposure of sensitive drafts before review and approval.
Going Beyond Free – PublishPress Pro
The free versions of Capabilities and Permissions provide basic building blocks for access controls. Upgrading to the Pro tier enables more advanced configurations like:
- Selective metadata locking (block edits to titles, tags, categories, etc.)
- Detailed audit logging for security analytics
- Multi-site infrastructure restrictions
- Block external user management plugins to enforce consistency
Pro also includes premium support and testing tools to validate roles and permissions. Pricing starts at $99/year which is well worth it for large and growing platforms.
In Closing – A Secure Foundation for Collaboration
As online publishing expands, properly partitioning author access mitigates insider threats and intellectual property loss. This post explored technical controls offered by the PublishPress plugins to selectively limit permissions between user groups.
Implementing these security best practices helps maintain content confidentiality without losing the benefits of collaboration.
For sites managing a proliferation of user identities and content, I welcome you to reach out with any other questions!
