In early 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to a global-scale brute-force attack.
These attacks were caused by botnets (computers infected with malware and programmed to attack other computers).
(WordPress powers millions of sites worldwide, making it an obvious target for hacking attempts)
In March 2014, many technology sites began reporting that 160,000+ WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
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)
As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Whenever attacks on WordPress sites take place on such a large scale, it’s natural for website owners to ask if WordPress really is a secure application for building and running their sites.
WordPress is frequently the target of malicious attacks by hackers, due to its global popularity. But should you be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business presence online?
In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely use WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.
WordPress Security Explained
Let’s start by looking at facts …
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year … not just WordPress sites!
The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s only going to get worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s inevitable that at some point in time someone will attempt to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform you use!
Since it’s not a matter of if, but when before a malicious user will try to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?
How Secure Are “Open Source” Programs?
Some people will often try to argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites because it’s “open source” and freely available software.
Open source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can have access to the software code.
The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can study the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain all of the code and study it, looking for holes and weaknesses that can be exploited …
(It’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website is targeted by malicious hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)
While it’s true that WordPress is a free application and hackers can easily go through the code searching for vulnerabilities and weaknesses (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it a lot more secure in many ways.
This is because WordPress has the support of an open volunteer community that consists of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the program and make WordPress more secure …
(With WordPress, a huge community of web developers around the world is responsible for keeping the core application code up-to-date. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)
WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of minds dedicated to improving the code and making it safer for every user …
(The WordPress core software is built by an open community of WordPress users. Image source: WordPress.org)
The moment that any security issue is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core development team are then made aware of it …
(WordPress is continually being improved by an open community of users and web developers. Screenshot image: WordPress.org)
The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anybody can contribute to fixing the platform.
For example:
- If you find bugs and a security issue, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
- If you find any issues in a WordPress plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.
This is the reason why the WordPress community is constantly releasing new version updates, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs frequently up-to-date …
(WordPress continually releases new updates to plug any security holes found)
WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms
We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an open source platform like WordPress is that users benefit from a large community of developers who continually contribute to make the platform more secure. By contrast, a proprietary or “closed-source” CMS application is typically built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, maintenance services, bug fixes and software fixes.
WordPress is free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the technology. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a free software that you can download, use and modify as you wish?
WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms
(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)
Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, there is valid research to support the fact that the WordPress CMS is actually safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.
For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular open source platforms during a given period …
(WordPress has fewer security vulnerabilities than other CMS platforms. Screenshot: National Vulnerability Database)
Other studies also show that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to keep up-to-date, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites built with WordPress had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …
(WordPress is more secure than other CMS platforms. Source: BlogDefender.com)
Don’t Blame The Platform
When WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, users shouldn’t be quick to place the blame on WordPress.
According to security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, many webmasters have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with web security compromises.
In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their sites had been compromised by hackers after an attack …
(Many webmasters don’t know how their sites got hacked. Screenshot: StopBadware.org)
Of immediate concern is the fact that many security problems seem to be related to website owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …
(Many WordPress sites are running on outdated versions. Image source: Sucuri.net)
When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …
(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot source: WebDesign.org)
Like all robust software platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security problems that could arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.
WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!
The amount of misinformation about WordPress security has even led the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime in and reply to posts online.
In a blog post entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” posted on April 15, 2015, Matt wrote the following about WordPress …
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 around the world use WordPress to build their websites, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.
Other Factors That Can Affect WP Security
Other studies on issues that play a role in website security point to things like:
- No platform is protected from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to outdated software.
- The biggest security vulnerability of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
- Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
- Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least secure site on the hosting grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site broken into, then all sites on the server can potentially become vulnerable.
There Is No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress
As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you continue to implement basic security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there’s no reason why you should not use WordPress.
WordPress Security – Useful Tips
To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article: WordPress Brute-Force Attack Prevention Measures
A compromised site provides malicious users with a resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Learn more about it here:
If you are using outdated versions of WordPress 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 everything to its former settings.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Clone & Protect Your WordPress Websites With Backup Creator Plugin For WP
References Used In This Article
The above facts were sourced from the following sites:
- ITProPortal.com
- National Vulnerability Database
- BlogDefender.com
- UpAndUpStudios.com
- StopBadware.org
- Sucuri.net
- WebDesign.org
- Quora.com
- Ma.tt
Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please see other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)