Secure WordPress Using Authentication Keys

Here’s how to better secure your WordPress installation by adding some unique authentication keys to the wp-config.php file. You’ll find this file in the root WordPress directory and it’s a file that governs some of the main and most important settings in any WordPress installation. Without it WordPress can’t function. Spammers and hackers know this and it’s one of the more attacked files so here’s how to secure it a bit.

Open up wp-config.php in a HTML editor and look for the following set of definitions:

define(‘AUTH_KEY’,         ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘SECURE_AUTH_KEY’,  ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘LOGGED_IN_KEY’,    ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘NONCE_KEY’,        ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘AUTH_SALT’,        ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘SECURE_AUTH_SALT’, ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘LOGGED_IN_SALT’,   ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘NONCE_SALT’,       ‘put your unique phrase here’);

Go to the official WordPress Secret Key Generator https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ and refresh to generate some random secret keys. Carefully copy and paste the given key values into the corresponding definitions above, replacing put your unique phrase here.

You can change these values as often as you like without consequence.

Leon.