In early 2013 a worldwide brute force attack hit WordPress installations on almost every host server in existence.

These attacks were caused by botnets (infected computer networks programmed to attack other computers with security vulnerabilities).

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When attacks on WordPress sites seem to increase, it’s natural for website owners to start asking if WordPress really is a secure application for building and running a business web presence.

WordPress is the world’s most used CMS which makes it an obvious target for hacking attacks. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with the facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.

You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 your website has been built with!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone will attempt to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Secure?

Some people argue that WordPress cannot be a secure platform for building and running websites and blogs because its “open source” code is freely available.

Open-source CMS software like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone has access to the entire underlying software code.

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can access the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and go through it, searching for security weaknesses in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website will be targeted by hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for vulnerabilities or weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in a number of ways.

This is because WordPress is supported by a community consisting of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, the software platform is built, maintained and updated by a large community of web developers around the world. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the application, fixing bugs and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by a global community of users. Source: make.wordpress.org)

The moment that any security hole is identified by developers or users, the WordPress core development team are then made aware of it …

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by an open community of users and developers. Image source: WordPress.org)

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anybody can contribute to the improvement of the platform.

For example:

• If you find bugs and a security hole, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why the WordPress community releases new security updates so often, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs frequently updated …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to plug security holes)

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary CMS technologies where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a much smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will very quickly realize the security benefits of using WordPress to run your business presence online on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the platform. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities found in popular platforms during a given period …

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Platforms. Source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other research shows that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, WordPress sites had fewer exposure to risk …

(WordPress users are less exposed to security threats than other CMS platform users. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

When WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, you shouldn’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, a large number of webmasters are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

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

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

Of more immediate concern is the fact that most security-related issues come from site owners not upgrading their CMS software to the latest version …

(Many security issues come from sites running an outdated version of WordPress. Screenshot: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WP Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)

Like many modern web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to address new security risks that could arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.

WordPress … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

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

In a post entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” published 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 web presence, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in website security point to factors such as:

• No platform is completely safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The biggest risk in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Hosting setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as secure as the least secure site on the grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site broken into, then all sites on the server are potentially vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there is no reason to avoid choosing WordPress.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  Preventing WordPress Brute Force Attacks

An unsecured blog offers malicious users with a valuable resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Bots & Hackers From Finding And Attacking Your Website

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress remember to back up your files before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Backup, Duplicate And Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator WP Plugin

Article References

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 post has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

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