diff --git a/.htaccess b/.htaccess
index d5ebe4c20..82afe76de 100644
--- a/.htaccess
+++ b/.htaccess
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ php_value	mbstring.func_overload	0
 RewriteEngine On
 RewriteRule ^favicon\.ico$ skins/default/images/favicon.ico
 # security rules
-RewriteRule .git/ - [F]
-RewriteRule ^README|INSTALL|LICENSE|SQL|bin|CHANGELOG$ - [F]
+RewriteRule .git - [F]
+RewriteRule ^/?(README(.md)?|INSTALL|LICENSE|SQL|bin|CHANGELOG)$ - [F]
 </IfModule>
 
 <IfModule mod_deflate.c>