WordPress Security
WordPress Security

Browser cookies set by WP Cerber


When WP Cerber is installed on your website it can generate and set several browser cookies with the sole purpose of securing your website by detecting and mitigating malicious activity. All these cookies have randomly generated names and contain randomly generated values. No personal or sensitive data is stored in the cookies.

Those cookies allow WP Cerber to distinct logged in users and non-logged in visitors as well as search engine bots and spammers. Based on the set of cookies in a request, WP Cerber restricts access to protected areas, the login form, and the WordPress dashboard.

What data cookies contain

Cookies contain randomly generated alphanumeric values. No personal data is used.

How many cookies WP Cerber sets

The number is random and in general, it depends on the plugin configuration. Usually, it’s 2 to 6 cookies.

How to identify cookies set by WP Cerber

If an applicable privacy law or a user consent policy requires you to list cookies, specify the unique cookies’ prefix in the plugin settings, and use it as a unique cookies identifier.

Cookie prefix

You can specify any alphanumeric prefix for WP Cerber cookies you need. For instance “alpha_”. The configuration setting is located on the Main Settings admin page in the “Site-specific settings” section.

Displaying WP Cerber cookies on a website page

To get your website fully compliant with GDPR, you might need to display all cookies on a cookie consent page. Using a WordPress shortcode you can display a list of browser cookies set by WP Cerber. See several examples below. All attributes are optional. You can use any combination of them.

[wp_cerber_cookies]
[wp_cerber_cookies type="comma" id="html_id"]
[wp_cerber_cookies type="table" style="background-color:gray; color:white;"]
[wp_cerber_cookies type="list" id="list_of_cookies" text="Any text to display above the list. It is shown if WP Cerber sets cookies."]

No user consent is necessary

You don’t need to obtain user consent because WP Cerber’s cookies are strictly necessary and no natural person is associated with the cookies.

How to be in compliance with data privacy laws

The features below give you full control of personal data if it was logged by WP Cerber and help your organization to be in compliance with data privacy laws such as GDPR in Europe or CCPA in California.

Exporting personal data
Deleting personal data

Have any questions?

If you have a question regarding WordPress security or WP Cerber, leave them in the comments section below or get them answered on the community forum.

Spotted a bug or glitch?

We’d love to fix it! Share your bug discoveries with us here: Bug Report.


I'm a software engineer and team lead at Cerber Tech. I started coding in 1993 on IBM System/370 and today software engineering at Cerber Tech is how I make my living.

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