How to Change the WordPress Database Prefix to Improve Security?

Because every bit of information on your WordPress site is kept in the database, it’s a hacker’s preferred target. Automated SQL injection codes are used by spammers and hackers. Unfortunately, while installing WordPress, many people forget to change the database prefix. By targeting the default prefix wp_, hackers may plan a mass attack more easily. The smartest way to protect your database is to change the database prefix, which is quite simple to perform on a new site. But it takes a few steps to change the WordPress database prefix properly for your established site without completely messing it up.

Open the wp-config.php file in the root directory of your WordPress installation. Change the wp_ table prefix to anything else, like this. wp a123456_

So the line would look like this:

$table_prefix  = 'wp_a123456_';

You’ll need to connect to your database (probably with phpMyAdmin) and change the table names to the ones we specified in the wp-config.php file. If you’re using cPanel for WordPress hosting, the phpMyAdmin link may be found in your cPanel. Take a look at the picture below:

There are 11 default WordPress tables, so manually changing them would be a pain.

As a result, we have a SQL query that you may use to make things go faster.

RENAME table `wp_commentmeta` TO `wp_a123456_commentmeta`;
RENAME table `wp_comments` TO `wp_a123456_comments`;
RENAME table `wp_links` TO `wp_a123456_links`;
RENAME table `wp_options` TO `wp_a123456_options`;
RENAME table `wp_postmeta` TO `wp_a123456_postmeta`;
RENAME table `wp_posts` TO `wp_a123456_posts`;
RENAME table `wp_terms` TO `wp_a123456_terms`;
RENAME table `wp_termmeta` TO `wp_a123456_termmeta`;
RENAME table `wp_term_relationships` TO `wp_a123456_term_relationships`;
RENAME table `wp_term_taxonomy` TO `wp_a123456_term_taxonomy`;
RENAME table `wp_usermeta` TO `wp_a123456_usermeta`;
RENAME table `wp_users` TO `wp_a123456_users`;

Other plugins that may add their own tables to the WordPress database may require extra lines. The idea is that you change the prefix of all tables to the one you want.

We’ll need to look through the options table for any other fields that have the wp_ prefix and replace them. Use the following query to speed up the process:

SELECT * FROM `wp_a123456_options` WHERE `option_name` LIKE '%wp_%'

You’ll get a lot of results, and you’ll have to go over each one by one to change the lines.

SELECT * FROM `wp_a123456_usermeta` WHERE `meta_key` LIKE '%wp_%'

The number of entries may vary on how many plugins you are using and such. Just change everything that has wp_ to the new prefix.

You’re now ready to put the site to the test. Everything should be working great if you followed the steps above. You should now create a new backup of your database just to be safe.

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