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How to Add Security Questions to the WordPress Login Screen

You may have noticed that many financial institutions and large companies use security questions to protect user accounts. Some of our users have asked whether they can do the same thing to improve the security of their WordPress site.

Adding security questions to your WordPress login screen provides a crucial extra layer of defense, making it even tougher for unauthorized users to access your site. It is a simple yet effective way to protect your valuable content.

This article provides a step-by-step guide to adding security questions to your WordPress login form, giving you peace of mind and making it harder for potential intruders.

How to Add Security Questions to WordPress Login Screen

Why Add Security Questions in WordPress?

There are many ways to protect the WordPress admin area from unauthorized access. However, if you run a multi-user or WordPress membership site, then it is harder to balance website security with user experience.

Adding security questions to your login screen can help. Before your users can log in to your WordPress website, they will be required to answer one or more questions that other users shouldn’t know the answer to.

This security measure can help protect your website from brute-force attacks by hackers.

An alternative is two-factor authentication or 2FA. This option is more secure but requires a little more effort to set up. You can learn more by reading our guide on how to add two-factor authentication in WordPress.

Having said that, let’s see how you can easily add security questions to your WordPress login screen.

Adding Security Questions to Your Login Screen

First, you need to install and activate the Two Factor Authentication plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

In this tutorial, we will use the free version of the plugin. With the free version, you can set up security questions for up to three users, and they must have the administrator role.

If you want to use the plugin with more users or users who are not administrators, then you will need to purchase a premium license.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Multi-factor Authentication » Two Factor page to adjust the plugin settings. Once there, simply click the ‘Configure’ button that you will find at the bottom of the Security Questions section.

Click the Configure Button under the Security Questions Section

On the next page, you can select two questions from the dropdown menus. You will have to type the third question yourself.

Once you have chosen the questions, you will need to type in your answers.

Choose Your Security Questions and Answers

Make sure you click the ‘Save’ button to store your settings.

The plugin will display a success message that confirms your security questions have been configured. You can dismiss the message by clicking the ‘Got it!’ button.

Security Questions Success Message

Note that these questions and answers are for you alone. Other users on your WordPress website will need to visit this page and set up their own questions.

When you log in to your website, you will still see the standard WordPress login page. You will need to enter your username and password as usual.

The WordPress Login Screen

After clicking the ‘Log In’ button, you will be asked to validate your login by answering two questions. You will need to correctly type the answers to those questions and then click the ‘Validate’ button.

Type Your Answers and Click Validate

Our Best Guides for Login Screen Security

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add security questions to your WordPress login screen. You may also want to see some guides on other ways you can protect your login screen:

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

14 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
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  2. Dayo Olobayo

    An interesting angle to consider is whether security questions become less effective over time. As social media profiles become more commonplace and people share more personal information online, I believe the answers to security questions can be easier to guess. Isn’t it possible for the security questions to auto update periodically?

    • WPBeginner Support

      Not at the moment but possibly in the future :)

      Admin

  3. Mrteesurez

    This is another way to protect a WordPress site by using Security questions especially for a membership site.

    My question is, is this only applicable or works for a default WordPress login page ??
    What of I want to use it in a custom reg and login page ??

    • WPBeginner Support

      You can use it for a custom login page or the default login page.

      Admin

  4. Izzy

    Is there a way to do this without a plugin?

    • WPBeginner Support

      It would require some coding but we do not have a beginner-friendly method to set this up without a plugin at the moment.

      Admin

  5. Bette Greenfield

    Is the information in this article up to date. Last updated on September 26th, 2016 by Editorial Staff

    • WPBeginner Support

      The plugin should still be working but the plugin may have updated their interface since this article was last updated

      Admin

  6. chris

    I just tried this plugin its totally crap
    there no answer box just the question boxes. ???

      • chris

        yes i know this, however the plugin only gave me the questions with no answer box
        that is very strange with a glitch like that.

      • chris

        I did all that and still even with putting an answer in or not it still doesn’t work it’s a crappy plugin no good to anyone.
        I would not recommend this to my friends.
        How embarrassing for this developer to put this out and for you to recommend.
        bad bad bad

        • Dean Bartley

          I tried it and it works just fine. Your plugins or theme must be conflicting with the plugin. And I really don’t see why your behaving the way you are. They are just trying to help. Chill with the negative comment and be thankful they are recommending stuff. If you don’t agree that is your opinion. Thanks for the recommendation wpbeginner. Keep up the good work.

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