cd ~
chmod 750 .

AllowOverride AuthConfig

AllowOverride All

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/apache/
sudo htpasswd -c /usr/local/etc/apache/passwords my_username

sudo vim /var/www/.htaccess

AuthType Basic
AuthName "My Web App"
AuthUserFile /usr/local/etc/apache/passwords
Require user my_username

sudo chown www-data /var/www/.htaccess
sudo chmod 400 /var/www/.htaccess