Securing WordPress using a unique Administrative Username

A common username for the administrator in many applications is “admin” and WordPress is no different. For someone trying to compromise your WordPress site, they’ll need to know both your username and password to gain access. As admin is commonly used as the administrator, we’ve already done half the work for hackers as now all they need to do is guess the password. If you have a user with the username “admin”, it is a good idea to update this in an effort to make your wordpress site more secure.

Create a New Administrator

  1. Log into your WordPress dashboard and click “Users” in the left menu
  2. Click the “Add New” button on the top of the page
  3. Fill out the “Add New User” form and click “Add New User“. Be sure to enter something other than “admin” in the “Username” field. The “Role” should also be changed to Administrator.

Remove the Existing “Admin” User

  1. Log into your wordpress dashboard as your new user and click “Users” in the left menu
  2. Place a check in the box to the left of your “admin” user
  3. In the “Bulk Actions” drop down, select Delete, then click “Apply
Carrie Smaha
Carrie Smaha Senior Manager Marketing Operations

Carrie enjoys working on demand generation and product marketing projects that tap into multi-touch campaign design, technical SEO, content marketing, software design, and business operations.

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