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

These attacks were caused by computers infected with malware and programmed to attack other vulnerable installations, also commonly known as “botnets”.

(WordPress is the world’s most used content management system making it a target for hacking)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Screenshot source: 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)

As described 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.

When global brute force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to ask just how safe and secure the WordPress platform is for building and running an online presence.

Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking. But should you 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 definitely choose WordPress if you have any concerns 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 around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s getting worse.

It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!

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

Is An “Open Source” Software Really Safe?

Some people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running a web presence because it’s a freely available open source application.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of the code and go through every single line in great detail, searching for security holes they could exploit …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website is targeted by hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for security weaknesses or vulnerabilities that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in several ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a volunteer community comprised of thousands of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(A volunteer community of thousands of web developers worldwide build and maintain. Image: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a huge volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who are dedicated to improving the application, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a large community of users. Source: WordPress.org)

As soon as any security vulnerabilities are discovered by developers or users, these are normally recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …

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

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

For example:

• If you discover bugs and a security weakness, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why WordPress is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress site frequently updated …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to address any security holes found)

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS platform like WordPress with proprietary platforms where often a small team with limited time and resources is responsible for monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your websites and blogs on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is 100% free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the platform. Can a proprietary CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in each of these open source CMS platforms …

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

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

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

Don’t Blame WordPress

If someone breaks into your WordPress site, don’t be quick to blame 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 webmasters have no idea about the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with compromises.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their sites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern is the fact that most security issues seem to be related to users simply not updating their CMS software to the latest version …

(Many WordPress sites use outdated versions. Image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while 70% – 75% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly in order to address new security risks that could arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

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

In a post entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” published 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 choose WordPress to build their web presence, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect Security

Other research on issues that play a role in WordPress security point to factors like:

• No platform is protected from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
• The main threat of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security processes need frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Hosting setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least secure website on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on the server are potentially vulnerable.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress

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

WordPress Security – Tips

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

A vulnerable site presents hackers with a resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Bots & Hackers From Finding Your Web Sites

If you are currently using an older version of WordPress make sure to make a backup 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. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Backup, Duplicate & Protect Your WP Web Sites With Backup Creator WP Plugin

Article 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, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about using the WordPress software please see other posts published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles are published.

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