Title: Security WP REST API – Web Scraping
Last modified: August 14, 2018

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# Security WP REST API – Web Scraping

 *  [jfantasybooks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jfantasybooks/)
 * (@jfantasybooks)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-wp-rest-api-web-scraping/)
 * Hi there.
 * I was wondering if there is any security to prevent web scraping via the WP REST
   API. It seems you can grab any data you want, however you like.
 * And if so, any documentation that talks about setting up a secure connection 
   between apps and the site? Like Credentials..etc.
 * Thanks.
 * J.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [Jacob Peattie](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jakept/)
 * (@jakept)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-wp-rest-api-web-scraping/#post-10589140)
 * You can scrape data from the website from the HTML too, there’s nothing special
   about the API in that regard just because it’s JSON.
 *  Thread Starter [jfantasybooks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jfantasybooks/)
 * (@jfantasybooks)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-wp-rest-api-web-scraping/#post-10591409)
 * I understand it’s possible to scrape from html.
 * But to scrape the rest api seems way too easy. Just need the link, and they can
   grab the content of any wordpress site.
 * What I want to know is if there is a way to control that. Limit access to the
   server itself or to specific apps.
 * And if currently not, is there a way to alter the url to a customized one, where
   possibly only someone very knowledgeable could find out.
 * Rule for anti-scraping or anything, really: There is no need to make it easy 
   for those who steal our content, when there is an option to do otherwise.
 * Can anyone offer some useful advice please?
 * And please, if you’re not going to help, don’t respond.
    -  This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by [jfantasybooks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jfantasybooks/).
 *  [aCstudent](https://wordpress.org/support/users/acstudent/)
 * (@acstudent)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-wp-rest-api-web-scraping/#post-10591462)
 * My understanding is that if your content is displayed to a user, it can be scraped.
   The CloudFlare free tier offers a feature called Scrape Shield that – in addition
   to email obfuscation and hotlink protection – will allow you to hide selected
   content from “suspicious visitors” using Server Side Excludes.
 * A different approach, only if you do not need or use Rest API except for logged-
   in users …
    [https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-wp-rest-api/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-wp-rest-api/)
    -  This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by [aCstudent](https://wordpress.org/support/users/acstudent/).
      Reason: added a different approach
    -  This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by [aCstudent](https://wordpress.org/support/users/acstudent/).
 *  Thread Starter [jfantasybooks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jfantasybooks/)
 * (@jfantasybooks)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-wp-rest-api-web-scraping/#post-10600513)
 * Thanks for the reply.
 * Let’s forget about scraping.
 * What if I would like to use the Rest API that will utilize user data?
 * Is there a way to secure that info?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Security WP REST API – Web Scraping’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [scraping](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/scraping/)
 * [wp rest api](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/wp-rest-api/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 4 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [jfantasybooks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jfantasybooks/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/security-wp-rest-api-web-scraping/#post-10600513)
 * Status: not resolved

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