Using strong pattern matching, this technique prevents external access to any file containing “.hta”, “.HTA”, or any case-insensitive combination thereof. To illustrate, this code will prevent access through any of the following requests: .htaccess, .HTACCESS, .hTaCcEsS, testFILE.htaccess, filename.HTACCESS, FILEROOT.hTaCcEsS.

.htaccess-snippet__disable-access-to-ht-files

#     Strong pattern matching - method frome at Perishable Press:
#     https://perishablepress.com/
#     Using strong pattern matching, this technique prevents external access
#     to any file containing “.hta”, “.HTA”, or any case-insensitive combination
#     thereof, including... :
#         - .htaccess
#         - .HTACCESS
#         - .hTaCcEsS
#         - testFILE.htaccess
#         - filename.HTACCESS
#         - FILEROOT.hTaCcEsS



### ****************************************************************************
### STRONG HTACCESS PROTECTION
### ****************************************************************************
<Files ~ "^.*\.([Hh][Tt][Aa])">
 order allow,deny
 deny from all
# satisfy all
</Files>

# ~ credit: https://perishablepress.com/improve-site-security-by-protecting-htaccess-files/
#   (From the article by Jeff Starr)







### ****************************************************************************
### A slightly better alternative (... I think...)
### ****************************************************************************
<FilesMatch "(.log|wp-config.php|.[hH][tT][aApP].*)">
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
Satisfy All
</FilesMatch>

# ~ credit: https://perishablepress.com/improve-site-security-by-protecting-htaccess-files/
#   (From user comments - Posted by @AskApache)






### ****************************************************************************
### Accomplish this using just a rewrite rule 
### ****************************************************************************
# RewriteRule .ht[ap] - [NC,F]

# ~ credit: https://perishablepress.com/improve-site-security-by-protecting-htaccess-files/
#   (From user comments - Posted by @AskApache)