a quick note on .htaccess
here’s a little about using .htaccess to protect your phpMyAdmin directory
It protects a directory through 2 files; .htaccess and .htpasswd – you can read all about it on this Comprehensive guide to .htaccess
There’s an online tool you can use to create these files at the .htaccess Generator
Enter your user name and your current password (this is not compulsory, but convenient), and /srv/www/[yourusername]/public_html/phpMyAdmin/ as the path. (note, no tilde in the user name). Then Copy the information returned by the online tool and save the first file as '.htaccess' and the second file as '.htpasswd'. Upload them (as ASCII) to your public_html/phpMyAdmin/ directory and viola, it will be password protected.