How to Change the WordPress SALT Keys Automatically to Enhance Security
WordPress SALT keys or the WordPress security authentication is the encrypted code that secures your login information. One thing that most people don’t know is that it is possible to change the SALT. Changing the SALT keys automatically is one of the best ways of enhancing your WordPress security. In this post, we shall be taking a look at how you can change the SALT keys automatically without writing any line of code.
What are the WordPress SALT keys?
SALT keys are also known as security keys in WordPress. These are variables that store the login credentials in the encrypted form. By default, WordPress will save your login data in cookies which can be compromised; given the right conditions. This is more so if you use a public computer. One way to avoid this risk is to change the security keys manually from the wp-config.php file. This can be found in the root folder of the WordPress site.
To enhance security, it is highly recommended to change the SALT keys regularly. You should make the change at least once every 3 to 6 months. It is easy to generate the SALT keys from the WordPress.org security-key service.
Although changing the keys manually is quite time consuming, it is worth the work. The good news is that you don’t need to have any coding knowledge to make the changes. Below is the process you need to take when editing the SALT keys.
How to change the WordPress SALT keys
The first thing you will have to do is to install and activate the SALT Shaker plugin. Once it is installed and activated, head to Tools>>Salt Shaker page from the admin area. You need to go ahead and set the schedule for changing SALT keys. You can set the schedule to daily, weekly or monthly. From here, you should check the ‘automatically changing’ option. To change the SALT keys manually at any time, you just need to click ‘Change Now’ button.
What happens?
Every time the SALT keys are changed, you and all users will be logged out automatically. This happens on all devices. You will need to re-log in again by going to the WordPress login page.
This is one of the best methods you can use to heighten security on your WordPress website. Relying on the default settings is not a wise thing to do. You need to change things up a bit. In addition to changing the SALT keys automatically, it is imperative that you use stronger passwords.