In 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to a global-scale brute force attack.

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

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

In March 2014, technology sites began reporting that 162,000 WordPress websites 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever attacks on WordPress sites increase in frequency, it’s natural for people to start asking if WordPress really is a secure platform for building and running a business web presence.

WordPress powers millions of sites worldwide, which makes it a frequent target for hacker attacks. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business website?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s 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 your website will be targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Safe From Hacking?

Some people will often argue that WordPress cannot be a secure platform for building and running websites because it’s an “open source” and freely available software application.

Open source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can access the underlying code.

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can access the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain all of the code and study it in detail, looking for security holes that could 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 free and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for security holes or vulnerabilities that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source platform actually makes it a lot more secure in several ways.

This is because WordPress has the support of a huge volunteer community of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a community of hundreds of web developers around the world is responsible for keeping the code up-to-date. Source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of a huge volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of minds committed to improving the application and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a global community of users. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

The moment any security vulnerabilities are discovered by developers or users, these are then noted in user forums and addressed by the WordPress development team …

(WordPress is continually being improved by an open community of web developers and users. Screenshot image: WordPress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anyone can help contribute to the improvement of the software.

For example:

• If you notice bugs or a security hole, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WordPress plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why the WordPress team releases new updates so frequently, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to plug any security issues found)

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary platforms where often a smaller team with limited resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will quickly realize the value of using WordPress to run your website or blog on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is free to download, use and modify, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the software. Can a proprietary CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users a completely free CMS software 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 systems, 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 each of these open source platforms during a given period …

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

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

(WordPress is more secure than other CMS platforms. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Not WordPress’ Fault

Whenever WordPress sites get attacked, users shouldn’t be quick to place the blame on the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch, most website owners have no idea about the security 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 were hacked after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that many security-related problems arise from users not upgrading their WordPress software to a newer version …

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

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WordPress 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, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

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

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

Other Factors That Can Affect WordPress Website Security

Other studies on issues that affect website security point to areas like:

• No platform is protected from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
• The main vulnerability in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security systems need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting accounts are only as secure as the least safe website on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on the shared server becomes vulnerable to being hacked also.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Choosing 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 commit to implementing basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there’s no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to run your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  WordPress Brute-Force Attack Prevention Measures

A vulnerable blog provides hackers with a valuable resource for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to botnets and hackers. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Prevent Malicious Cyber-Attacks On Your WP Blog From Bots & Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin

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

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Clone & Protect Your WP Site With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

Article References

The statistics quoted above 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, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using the WordPress platform please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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