Authenticator for Wordpress

[jackofallvices]

Hello

I have seen an authenticator script for a couple forums (phpbb being one that I remember), and I know it is possible to do the same for a Wordpress install with bbpress and Buddypress, but so far no one has shared how they accomplished this and I have no idea where to start. I don't think I would need anything complicated like sharing permissions or group limits, just a way to verify only registered users could log in and their usernames be correct and consistent between the forums and the murmur (avatar would be nice, but certainly not a huge deal)

Does anyone know a way I could limit the server to only those users of the forum website? I am running on Debian Jessie 64 bit, Virtualmin using mysql and apache for the website. Both the murmur and web servers reside on the same machine.

I imagine this would be rather difficult for someone without a strong background in scripting (me!). So if you know how to do this, or know of instructions for how to do it, it is OK (preferred even) to talk to me like I am an 8 year old idiot if it can help me accomplish this.

I am not a complete n00b, but my experience is limited to things I have sat down and gotten my hands dirty with and sharing database values in a secure manner is something I don't think it would be wise to fiddle around with without some sort of guidence (and backups, lots of backups).

Thanks in advance if you can help me with this.