In early 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to worldwide brute force attacks.

These attacks were caused by botnets (networks of infected computers programmed to attack other computers).

(WordPress is frequently the target of malicious attempts by hackers)

In March 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)

According to the Cnet report,

“With some old-fashioned trickery, hackers were able to get more than 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered Web sites to mount a distributed-denial-of-service attack against another Web site.”

(Source: cnet.com/news/ddos-attack-is-launched-from-162000-wordpress-sites)

According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When attacks on WordPress sites gain attention worldwide, it’s natural for people to ask just how secure WordPress is as an application for building and running their websites.

WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider choosing WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

Thousands of websites are hacked every year … not just WordPress sites!

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and this is only going to get worse.

It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website will be targeted by malicious hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

”How Can Open Source Software Be Kept Safe From Hackers?”

Some people often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running web sites because it’s an “open source” and freely available program.

Open source CMS programs like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can have access to the software code.

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download all of the code and study every single line, searching for security vulnerabilities in the code that they could exploit …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before someone will try to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily go through the code looking for holes or weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open application actually makes it a lot more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a global community comprised of thousands of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(A huge community of hundreds of web developers around the world build, maintain and update. Image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of individuals dedicated to improving the software, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by an open community of contributors. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security issue is identified by developers or users, these are then reported in user forums and addressed by the WordPress development team …

(WordPress is continually being improved by thousands of committed individuals community of users and web developers. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

The WordPress community support system is very responsive and anybody can help contribute to the process of getting vulnerabilities plugged.

For example:

• If you notice bugs or security holes, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can also report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why the WordPress community is constantly releasing new updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs up-to-date …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to address security weaknesses)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS platforms where often the responsibility for maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a much smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly understand the value and advantages of using WordPress to run your website or blog on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, use and modify, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the software. Can a proprietary CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users a free platform that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, there is valid research to support the fact that WordPress is actually safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular open source CMS platforms …

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Applications. Screenshot source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies also indicate that, because WordPress is easy to use and to keep updated, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites run on WordPress had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

(Blog Defender – CMS Tests. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Easier To Blame Technology When Things Go Wrong

When WordPress sites are attacked en masse, users shouldn’t be quick to blame WordPress.

According to security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, a large number of website owners are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with compromised web security.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their sites were hacked after an attack …

(Most webmasters don’t even know how their sites got hacked. Screenshot: StopBadware.org)

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that many security-related problems come from users running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WordPress software. Screenshot source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like many software platforms, WordPress is regularly updated in order to address new security vulnerabilities that can arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank Using It!

The amount of misinformation online about how secure WordPress is has even caused the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime in and reply to posts online.

In an article entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” posted on April 15, 2015, Matt wrote the following about WordPress security …

There’s a thread on Quora asking “I am powering a bank’s website using WordPress. What security measures should I take?” The answers have mostly been ignorant junk along the lines of “Oh NOES WP is INSECURE! let me take my money out of that bank”, so I wrote one myself, which I’ve copied below.

I agree there’s probably not a ton of benefit to having the online banking / billpay / etc portion of a bank’s website on WordPress, however there is no reason you couldn’t run the front-end and marketing side of the site on WordPress, and in fact you’d be leveraging WordPress’ strength as a content management platform that is flexible, customizable, and easy to update and maintain.

Matt then goes on to provide a couple of security tips, before stating the following …

For an example of a beautiful, responsive banking website built on WordPress, check out Gateway Bank of Mesa AZ. WordPress is also trusted to run sites for some of the largest and most security-conscious organizations in the world, including Facebook, SAP, Glenn Greenwald’s The Intercept, eBay, McAfee, Sophos, GNOME, Mozilla, MIT, Reuters, CNN, Google Ventures, NASA, and literally hundreds more.

As the most widely used CMS in the world, many people use and deploy the open source version of WordPress in a sub-optimal and insecure way, but the same could be said of Linux, Apache, MySQL, Node, Rails, Java, or any widely-used software. It is possible and actually not that hard to run WordPress in a way that is secure enough for a bank, government site, media site, or anything.

Millions of businesses, including banks, leading brands and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their websites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting Security

Other issues that can affect security include things such as:

• No platform is completely safe from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The main security weakness in all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security processes need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting servers are only as secure as the least secure site on the grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on that server are potentially vulnerable.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Choosing WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses of all sizes to build their presence online. As long as you continue to implement basic web security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there is no reason not to use WordPress.

WordPress Security – Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  WordPress Brute-Force Attack Prevention Measures

A vulnerable web site presents malicious users with a resource to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to botnets and hackers. Learn more about it here:

• Prevent Malicious Cyber-Attacks On Your WordPress Web Sites By Hackers And Bots With Blog Defender

If you are currently using an older WordPress version remember to make a complete backup before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are many plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Clone & Keep Your WordPress Sites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References Used In This Article

For more information on the above, refer to the sites below:

• ITProPortal.com
• National Vulnerability Database
• BlogDefender.com
• UpAndUpStudios.com
• StopBadware.org
• Sucuri.net
• WebDesign.org
• Quora.com
• Ma.tt

Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better business results online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business web site please see other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles are published.

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