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Your website works. But what happens behind the scenes?

Field Note #298
🔬 Generalized 🟢 Beginner ✓ Observation from Experience
When a new feature goes live on your site, the immediate goal is usually simple: make it work.
What often gets less attention afterward is reviewing the code behind that feature.
A custom form handler, file-upload function, database integration, or third-party script may continue working for years after it was added. But does it still have the access it needs — and only the access it needs?
Three things worth including in your website maintenance routine:
• Limit access. Custom code should have only the permissions it actually needs. Nothing broader.
• Handle input safely. Information submitted through forms and other inputs shouldn’t automatically be trusted. Validate and sanitize it appropriately, then escape output where it’s rendered.
• Review regularly. Revisit custom theme functions, plugin code, handlers, and older integrations. Remove what’s no longer needed and review what’s still active.
You don’t need to be a developer to ask these questions. If someone has built custom functionality into your website, it’s reasonable to know whether that code is still necessary, maintained, and appropriately secured.
Code security isn’t a one-time setup. It’s part of ongoing website maintenance.
When was the last time someone reviewed the custom code behind your website?

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