Connecting your first site

Once the PowerSEC plugin is installed and active, you need to pair it with your PowerSEC Central account.

The pairing flow

1. In your WP admin, click PowerSEC → Connect
2. The plugin opens a browser window to powersec.io/connect
3. Sign in with your PowerSEC account (or create one if you don't have one)
4. Confirm the site — you'll see the site name + URL pre-filled
5. Click Connect this site
6. The plugin and Central exchange API keys automatically — takes ~5 seconds
7. Done! You'll be redirected back to your WP admin with a success banner

What happens behind the scenes

• The plugin generates two API keys: a telemetry key (for sending data to Central) and a remote-action key (for receiving commands from Central)
• Central stores hashed copies of both keys
• All future communication is signed using HMAC-SHA256 — no API keys ever travel in the clear

After connecting

Within ~30 seconds you should see your site appear in your dashboard at powersec.io/dashboard/sites. The first scan starts automatically.

What if connection fails?

Common causes:

• Firewall blocking — your server must allow outbound HTTPS to powersec.io
• WAF rule blocking — some hosts (esp. SiteGround, WP Engine) have rules that block the pairing endpoint. Whitelist powersec.io in your WAF
• Site URL mismatch — if your wp-options site_url differs from where you accessed wp-admin, plugin pairing can fail

If issues persist, see Plugin installation troubleshooting.