In April 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack began hitting WordPress installations on virtually every WP host server in existence around the world.

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

(WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system which makes it a natural target for hacker attacks)

On March 11, 2014, many technology sites began reporting that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Screenshot image: Blog Defender)

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 sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever worldwide attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to question if WordPress really is a safe application for running their websites.

WordPress often is targeted by hackers, due to its global popularity. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business web presence?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider using WordPress if you are 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 sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation is only going to get worse.

It’s 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 you use!

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

”How Can Open Source Software Applications Keep Hackers Away?”

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

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

The argument, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and study it in great detail, looking for security weaknesses that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before a malicious user will attempt to hack your website … 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 holes and vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.

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

(With WordPress, an open community of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the platform code up-to-date. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who are dedicated to improving the code, identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by a global community of users. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

As soon as a security hole is discovered by developers or users, these are immediately recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core development team …

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

The WordPress community support system is very responsive and anybody can contribute to improving the software.

For example:

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

This is the reason why the WordPress team is constantly releasing new updates, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site frequently up-to-date …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to plug any security weaknesses found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

Compare what we have just discussed above with proprietary technologies where often a much smaller team with limited time and resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to run your web presence on a secure platform.

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 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, research shows that WordPress is safer than other Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in each of these platforms during a certain period …

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

Other research shows that, because WordPress is easy to use and to keep up-to-date, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, WordPress sites had less exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame The WordPress CMS

Whenever WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, you shouldn’t be quick to place the blame on 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 website owners are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with web security compromises.

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

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

Of immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that many security-related issues result from website owners forgetting to upgrade their CMS software to the latest version …

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

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only between 20% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while 65% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

(WP Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)

Like many software platforms, WordPress is updated regularly in order to deal with new security issues that can arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes up-to-date.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even caused Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime into the online discussion.

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, including banks, global corporations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting WordPress Site Security

Other areas that can affect security include:

• No platform is completely immune to security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
• The main security vulnerability of all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security processes need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting are only as safe as the least secure site on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on that server are potentially vulnerable to hacking as well.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Choosing 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 remember to implement basic web security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their chosen web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) up-to-date, there is no reason why you shouldn’t use WordPress for your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

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

A vulnerable site provides hackers with a platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Sites makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Learn more about it here:

• Blog Defender Security Plugin – Make Your Blogs Invisible To Botnets & Hackers

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

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

References

For more information on the above, see the following sources:

• 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 issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about using the WordPress content management platform please see other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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