In early 2013 a global brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every WP hosting server in existence around the world.

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

(WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers, due to its global popularity)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com 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: 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)

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

Whenever worldwide brute-force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to start questioning if WordPress really is a safe platform for building and running a business web presence.

Being the world’s most popular CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking attacks. 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 choose WordPress if you are concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

Thousands of websites are hacked 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 the situation is getting worse.

It’s probably safe to 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 your website has been built with!

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

Are “Open Source” Applications Safe?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running a website or blog because it’s a freely available open source software program.

Open-source CMS software like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can have access to the underlying 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 easily download the code and go through every single line, looking for security weaknesses in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone attempts to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

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

This is because WordPress has the support of a global community that consists of hundreds of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a global community of web developers is responsible for keeping the platform up-to-date. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves largely through the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the code and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a global community of experienced web developers. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

As soon as a security vulnerability is identified by developers or users, the WordPress core development team are then notified …

(WordPress is continually being improved by a huge community community of web developers and users. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anyone can contribute to the process of addressing vulnerabilities.

For example:

• If you find bugs and security holes, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why WordPress releases new version updates on a regular basis, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs updated …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to plug security vulnerabilities)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

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” software application is normally built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, support, bug fixes and updates.

WordPress is 100% free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the technology. Can a proprietary CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a completely free CMS application that you can download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, research shows that WordPress is safer than other Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were found in each of these platforms during a certain period …

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

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

(BlogDefender.com – CMS Tests. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Technology

When WordPress sites get attacked en masse, you shouldn’t be quick to blame WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises, many webmasters have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their websites had been hacked after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security issues seem to be related to site owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

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

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while 65% – 75% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image source: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust web applications, WordPress is updated regularly in order to deal with new security threats that can arise. Improving software security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

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

In an article entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” published 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 around the world, including banks, leading brands and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect Site Security

Other factors that can affect WordPress blog security include things such as:

• No platform is immune to security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The main threat in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security processes need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Hosting setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least secure site on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on the server can potentially become vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) up-to-date, there is no reason not to use WordPress.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

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

A vulnerable website provides malicious users with a valuable resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Web Sites makes your WordPress site invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and bots. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Make Your Websites Invisible To Hackers With Blog Defender

If you are currently using an older WordPress version make sure you back up your files before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore everything to its previous settings.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Duplicate And Keep Your WordPress Web Site Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References Used In This Article

The above facts were referenced from various sources, including those listed below:

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

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about using the WordPress web site publishing software please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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