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

These attacks were caused by infected computer networks programmed to attack other installations, also commonly known as “botnets”.

(Powering millions of websites and blogs worldwide makes WordPress a target for attacks by malicious users)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered web 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)

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

When brute force attacks on WordPress sites seem to increase, it’s natural for website owners to ask if WordPress really is a safe software for running their websites.

Powering millions of sites around the world makes WordPress an obvious target for hackers. But should you be concerned about WordPress as a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely use WordPress if you are at all 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 rising, and this is getting 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 your website has been built with!

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

”Isn’t Open Source Software An Open Invitation To Hacking?”

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software application runs.

Open-source CMS software 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 examine the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download all of the code and go through every single line in great detail, searching 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 a free application and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for weaknesses or vulnerabilities that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in several ways.

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

(With WordPress, a global community of hundreds of web developers is responsible for keeping the software code updated. Screenshot image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of a huge volunteer community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of minds committed to improving the code and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

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

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

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by thousands of committed individuals community of developers and users. Image: WordPress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anybody can help contribute to the process of getting bugs fixed.

For example:

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

This is one of the reasons why the WordPress community is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you need to keep your site regularly up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to plug security exploits)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

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 improve code security. By contrast, proprietary or “closed-source” CMS platforms are typically built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, software maintenance, bug fixes and updates.

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 CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users a free CMS platform that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in popular open source platforms during a certain period …

(WordPress has fewer security vulnerabilities than other CMS applications. Screenshot: National Vulnerability Database)

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

(WordPress users are not as exposed to threats as other CMS platform users. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

If someone hacks into your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, a large number of website owners have no idea about the security 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 for the report didn’t even know how their websites had been compromised by hackers after an attack …

(Many webmasters don’t even know how their sites got hacked. Source: StopBadware.org)

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

(Many WordPress users have not updated their WordPress software. Screenshot: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 20% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while 70% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

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

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

WordPress Is Secure – Even Banks Use It!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even caused the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, 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 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 choose WordPress to build their websites, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect WordPress Site Security

Other research on issues that play a role in website security point to areas such as:

• No platform is protected from hacking. 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 weakness in all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Hosting server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as secure as the least safe website on the grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on that server become vulnerable to hacking also.

There Is No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you continue to implement basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there’s really no reason not to choose WordPress.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  Ten Security Measures That Can Prevent Brute Force Attacks On Your WordPress Site Or Blog

An unsecured site provides malicious users with a platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your website to steal information from online users. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets. Learn more about it here:

• Prevent Malicious Cyberattacks On Your WordPress Web Sites By Hackers & Botnets With Blog Defender Security Plugin

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

If you don’t want to back up your files manually, there are many free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Copy & Protect Your WP Website With Backup Creator WP Plugin

References Used In This Article

The above facts were referenced from various online 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, this post has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please see other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

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