Home Plesk How to enable Two Factor Authentication in Plesk?

How to enable Two Factor Authentication in Plesk?

Last updated on May 08, 2023

In today's age, digital security is crucial. You can suffer a lot of damage if it turns out that hackers have gained access to your website and misused it. This is why we always recommend enabling multi-level authentication everywhere (where possible). 2FA/MFA builds in an additional barrier for hackers to overcome and fortunately, in many cases, this barrier is not surmountable. We are eager to explain how to enable it in Plesk.

  1. Login to Plesk with the account you wish to enable 2FA for.

  2. Go to the Websites & Domains overview and enable the sidebar on the right side. There is a small toggle icon in the upper right corner. It sits on the same height as the title of the page.

  3. Select Google Authenticator from the list of available options. If you have multiple subscriptions you might have to select the correct subscription.

  4. Check the Enable Multi-factor Authentication on the page that has appeared. A QR code should now be displayed.

  5. Scan this QR code with your preferred authentication app* on your device. If you wish, you can also get the 2FA code to enter in a password manager for example. Just press the Could not scan the barcode? link below the QR.

  6. After adding the Plesk service to your app of choice enter the verification code in the desired field. This is to make sure you have been able to configure the 2FA successfully. Press OK after making sure that the other settings are correct.

  7. You have now enabled 2FA for your Plesk account. Please make sure to not lose your device as we will only be able to restore your account after an extensive review. Next time you log in to Plesk, either via the portal or via Plesk itself, it will prompt you to enter your TOTP code.

*We recommend 2FAS Authenticator on IOS and Android because it is open-source, free and offers you to backup your codes while not requiring any personal information. You may also choose an app like Google Authenticator, Authy or anything else.