Two Factor Authentication (2FA), I hope you are aware of this term. Brute force attacks are very common in the internet world. Normally, attackers try to guess your Password by submitting words and letter combinations.
They do it manually or by bot also. If they find your password by any means then your site’s access will be in their hands also.
After that, you can imagine the risk. To optimize the security of your site you must take all the necessary measures. Two Factor Authentication may also be one of the major steps to secure your site.
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What is Two Factor Authentication & How Does it Work?
Normally when you log in to your website dashboard, you need to put your User Name and Password. The server recognizes your credential if it matches then you get the access.
But in case you implement Two Factor Authentication then you need an additional unique code to log in.
After implementing 2FA, you just have an additional security layer. After this, you can’t log in to your WordPress site with your username and password only.
Now You have to put the second factor also. That is a unique authentication code. This means if you want to login your site after 2FA then you need the following things:
- User Name or Login ID
- Password
- TOTP (Unique Authentication Code)
Now, suppose someone or attackers got your username and password by any means. But whenever they will try to log in to your site then there will be a requirement for a unique authentication code.
It is because of an additional layer of 2FA. This required an additional unique code that only you can generate through an authentication app on your Mobile.
How to Implement Two Factor Authentication in Your WordPress Site?
If you want to enable Two Factor Authentication in your WordPress site then you need two things:
- Two Factor Authentication Plugin
- Two Factor Authentication App in Your Mobile
You download an authentication plugin in WordPress and activate it. Do the setting as per your requirements. You can download Wordfence, Google Authenticator Plugin, or any other 2FA plugin as per your choice.
After that, you install the authenticator app on your mobile. Open your app and you just need to scan the bar code showing in your authenticator plugin and add your site to the app.
There will be a verification code just fill it in the app and verify it in the plugin. Your site will be added.
Now, whenever, you will log in to your WordPress dashboard then you have to enter your User Name, and Password and click on login. After clicking on login there will be a window to fill 2FA code.
You just open your app on the mobile and you will see a TOTP. Enter the code to get a login to your site’s dashboard.
What is the Difference Between Two Factor Authentication and Single Factor Authentication?
In Single Factor Authentication, you only need Login ID/User Name and Password to log in to your WordPress. But in the case of Two Factor authentication, there is the third layer also.
In this case, you need Login ID/User Name, Password, and TOTP ( Time based One Time Password)
What is TOTP?
Mostly, the Two Factor Authentication plugin works on the TOTP protocol. TOTP is a time-based One Time Password. You need to have an app that supports this protocol. For example, the Google authenticator plugin supports the TOTP protocol.
Normally, this one-time password is valid for 30 seconds only. You will notice that code change every few seconds (30 seconds) on your mobile app.
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Does Your Website is 100% Secure after Implementing 2FA?
In my opinion, the answer is NO. This is not the only factor to secure your site. Apart from this, you need to take care of other security measures also. Monitoring and security of your site should be a regular practice.
Does 2FA Replace Normal Login ID and Password?
No, Two Factor Authentication doesn’t replace your username and password. 2FA is for creating an additional security layer. First, you have to enter your login id and password. Then after you will be asked to enter the 2FA code.
You can’t ignore your login id and password after implementing 2FA in your WordPress site.
Conclusion
In my opinion, we should always take all the required security steps to secure the site. You should always try to secure the site as much as possible. Two-factor authentication is also one important security step.
You can enable and disable it at your convenience. However, 2FA implementation may improve security and prevent brute force attacks.
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