In April 2013 a global brute force attack hit WordPress installations on almost every web host in existence.

These attacks were caused by computer networks infected with malware and programmed to attack other computers (botnets).

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers)

In March 2014, technology sites reported that over 162,000 WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.

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

Whenever brute force attacks on WordPress sites seem to increase, it’s natural for website owners to start asking just how safe and secure the WordPress platform is for building and running their websites.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers, due to its global popularity. But should you 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 facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.

You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … regardless of the web platform you use!

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

The “Open Source” Argument

Some people will often try to argue that WordPress is not a secure platform for building and running a website or blog because its open source code means that anyone can view how the software program was built.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can examine the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of all of the code and go through every single line in great detail, searching for security weaknesses in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before someone will try to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free and hackers can easily go through the code searching for security holes or weaknesses (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in many ways.

This is because WordPress is supported by a large community comprised of thousands of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a large community of hundreds of volunteers worldwide is responsible for keeping the software code up-to-date. Screenshot image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of a global volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of individuals committed to improving the application, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a global community of contributors. Image source: WordPress.org)

As soon as any security issues are discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core development team are then notified …

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

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

For example:

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

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

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to address security weaknesses)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS platform like WordPress with proprietary platforms where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a small team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly understand the security benefits of using WordPress to power your business web presence on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS 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 software that is 100% free to 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 to support the fact that WordPress is safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in each of these platforms during a given period …

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

Other studies indicate that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and maintain, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, WordPress sites had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

(WordPress is safer to use than other leading CMS applications. Source: BlogDefender.com)

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

If someone breaks into your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to place the blame on WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises, 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 security compromises.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their sites were compromised after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that many security issues seem to be related to users running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while most 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 issues that may arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

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

In a blog 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 use WordPress to build their web presence, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect Blog Security

Other research on issues that affect website security point to areas such as:

• No platform is protected from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to software that is out of date.
• The biggest weakness in 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 require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting are only as safe as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on that server becomes vulnerable to being hacked also.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most of the 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 plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there is really no reason why you shouldn’t use 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:  10 Security Measures That Can Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On Your WordPress Site Or Blog

A vulnerable site offers hackers with a valuable resource for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Blog Defender Review – Make Your Website Unseen By Hackers

If you are using outdated WordPress versions remember to back up your WordPress website 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 perform manual backups, there are a number of free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Backup, Copy & Protect Your WordPress Sites With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

References Used In This Article

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, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about using WordPress please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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