Secure Your WordPress Website with Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Secure Your WordPress Website with Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

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Do you want to protect your WordPress website from hackers, bots, and brute force attacks? Do you want to ensure that only you and your trusted users can access your website’s dashboard and settings? Do you want to prevent unauthorized changes, data loss, or malware infections on your website?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need to activate two-factor authentication (2FA) in WordPress.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security feature that adds an extra layer of protection to your website by requiring a code or a device to log in, in addition to your username and password. This way, even if someone steals or guesses your password, they won’t be able to access your website without the second factor.

In this article, we will show you how to activate two-factor authentication (2FA) in WordPress using a free and easy plugin called WP 2FA. We will also explain why you need 2FA and how it works. Let’s get started!

Key Takeaways

  • Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security feature that requires a code or a device to log in, in addition to your username and password
  • 2FA protects your WordPress website from hackers, bots, and brute force attacks by preventing unauthorized access
  • You can activate 2FA in WordPress using the WP 2FA plugin, which supports email and phone app methods
  • The WP 2FA plugin is free, easy, and compatible with any WordPress theme or plugin

Why You Need 2FA

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world, powering over 40% of all websites on the internet. However, this also makes it a prime target for hackers, bots, and brute force attacks.

According to a report by Sucuri, WordPress accounted for 94% of all hacked websites in 2022. The most common cause of these hacks was weak or stolen passwords.

Passwords alone are not enough to secure your WordPress website. They can be easily guessed, cracked, or phished by malicious actors. Even if you use strong and unique passwords for your website, they can still be compromised by keyloggers, malware, or data breaches.

That’s why you need two-factor authentication (2FA) in WordPress. 2FA adds an extra layer of security to your website by requiring a code or a device to log in, in addition to your username and password. This way, even if someone steals or guesses your password, they won’t be able to access your website without the second factor.

Some of the benefits of using 2FA in WordPress are:

  • It protects your website from unauthorized access. With 2FA enabled, only you and your trusted users can log in to your website’s dashboard and settings. You can also choose which user roles need to use 2FA and which ones don’t.
  • It prevents data loss or malware infections. With 2FA enabled, hackers won’t be able to make any changes to your website’s files, database, or plugins. They also won’t be able to inject any malicious code or malware into your website.
  • It improves user trust and confidence. With 2FA enabled, your visitors and customers will know that you take security seriously and that their data is safe on your website. This can also boost your reputation and credibility as a website owner.

As you can see, 2FA is a must-have security feature for any WordPress website. It can save you from a lot of headaches and troubles in the long run.

How to Activate Two-factor Authentication (2FA) in WordPress

The easiest way to activate two-factor authentication (2FA) in WordPress is to use a plugin that does the job for you. There are many plugins that can help you with this task, but we recommend using the WP 2FA plugin.

In the bellow video you will find everything you need to do to have 2FA activated on your WordPress website, with activating 2FA for specific user or roles:

The WP 2FA plugin is a free and simple plugin that allows you to enable 2FA on your WordPress website with just a few clicks. It supports two methods of 2FA: email and phone app.

The email method sends a one-time code to your email address every time you log in. The phone app method uses an app like Google Authenticator or Authy on your smartphone to generate a one-time code every time you log in.

The WP 2FA plugin is compatible with any WordPress theme or plugin, and it does not affect the performance or usability of your website. It also lets you customize the settings according to your needs, such as choosing the user roles that need to use 2FA, setting the expiration time of the codes, enabling backup codes, and more.

You can use the WP 2FA wizard to configure the 2FA on your WordPress website, the video has the details with both setups. Bellow is the settings and profile option steps.

To use the WP 2FA plugin, follow these steps:

Install WP 2FA WordPress Plugin

  1. Go to Plugins > Add New from your WordPress dashboard.
  2. Type “WP 2FA” in the search box and hit enter.
  3. Find the plugin by WP White Security and click on “Install Now”.
  4. Wait for the installation to complete and click on “Activate”.
  5. The plugin is now installed and activated on your website.

Configure WP 2FA with Email

This are some basic steps to configure email 2FA if you need all the details you should check the youtube video it has all the details. For email you need to be sure emails are working OK on your WordPress website and you should install FluentSMTP.

  1. Go to WP 2FA under 2FA Polices and > One-time code via email (HOTP)
  2. Go to Users > Your Profile from your WordPress dashboard or in the wizard
  3. Scroll down to the WP 2FA section and click on “Set up two-factor authentication”.
  4. Choose the email method and click on “Next”.
  5. Enter your email address and click on “Send code”.
  6. Check your email inbox and find the email from WP 2FA with the code.
  7. Enter the code in the plugin’s interface and click on “Verify code”.
  8. You have successfully configured WP 2FA with email.

Configure WP 2FA with Phone APP

This are some basic steps to configure phone app 2FA if you need all the details you should check the youtube video it has all the details.

  1. Go to WP 2FA under 2FA Polices and > One-time code via 2FA App (TOTP)
  2. Go to Users > Your Profile from your WordPress dashboard.
  3. Scroll down to the WP 2FA section and click on “Set up two-factor authentication”.
  4. Choose the phone app method and click on “Next”.
  5. Download and install an app like Google Authenticator or Authy on your smartphone.
  6. Scan the QR code displayed by the plugin with your app or enter the secret key manually.
  7. Enter the code generated by your app in the plugin’s interface and click on “Verify code”.
  8. You have successfully configured WP 2FA with phone app.

Conclusions

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security feature that requires a code or a device to log in, in addition to your username and password. It protects your WordPress website from hackers, bots, and brute force attacks by preventing unauthorized access.

You can activate 2FA in WordPress using the WP 2FA plugin, which supports email and phone app methods. The WP 2FA plugin is free, easy, and compatible with any WordPress theme or plugin.

We hope this article helped you learn how to activate two-factor authentication (2FA) in WordPress using the WP 2FA plugin. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments below. 

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