In April 2013 a global brute force attack began hitting WordPress installations across virtually every web host in existence.

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

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

In March 2014, many technology sites reported that 162,000 WordPress websites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot 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 WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever brute-force attacks on WordPress sites receive attention worldwide, it’s natural for website owners to start asking if WordPress really is a safe platform for running websites.

Powering millions of sites around the world makes WordPress a target for hacker attacks. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business website?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider using WordPress if you have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at some facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and it’s 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 before someone does attempt to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform you use!

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

How Secure Is “Open Source” Software?

Some people argue that WordPress should not be used for running web sites because its “open source” code is freely available.

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

The argument, then, goes something like this: If everyone can access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of all of the code and study every single line in detail, searching for vulnerabilities in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone will try 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 searching for weaknesses or vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a huge volunteer community of hundreds 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 …

(With WordPress, a large community of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the platform code maintained and updated. Image: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of thousands of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of minds who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software, identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

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

As soon as any security weaknesses are identified by developers or users, these are normally logged in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core development team …

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

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anybody can contribute to the process of fixing security issues.

For example:

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

This is one of the reasons why the core development team releases new security updates so frequently, and why you need to keep your site updated …

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an ”open” platform like WordPress is that users benefit from a large community of developers who continually contribute to make the code more secure. By contrast, a proprietary or “closed-source” CMS platform is normally developed 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 users a completely free CMS platform that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, there is valid research to support the fact that WordPress is 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 certain period …

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

Other studies also indicate that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites built with WordPress had less exposure to risk …

(WordPress is more secure than other leading CMS applications. Source: BlogDefender.com)

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

When WordPress sites get attacked, users shouldn’t be too quick to blame WordPress.

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“, many website owners have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with compromised web security.

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

(Many webmasters don’t know how their sites get hacked. Image source: StopBadware.org)

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that many security-related issues arise from website owners not upgrading their CMS software to a newer 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 a small percentage 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 extensions …

(WP Security Issues. Screenshot image: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust web applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security issues that may arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress software, themes, plugins, etc..

WordPress Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank Using It!

The amount of misinformation about how secure WordPress is 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” 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 use WordPress to build their web presence, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting Blog Security

Other factors that can affect site security include things like:

• No platform is completely protected from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to software that is out of date.
• The biggest risk of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting servers are only as secure as the least safe website on the grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site broken into, then every site on that server becomes vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you remember to implement basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly updated, there is really no reason why you should not choose WordPress to power 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 Brute Force Attacks

A compromised blog provides hackers with a platform for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and bots. Learn more about this plugin here:

• A Review Of Blog Defender – WordPress Security Plugin

If you are currently using an older WordPress version remember to back up everything before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Back Up, Clone & Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

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, now you have a better understanding of problems 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 click on links to visit other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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