In April 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every web host in existence.

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

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers, due to its global popularity)

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

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. 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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When global brute force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to question if WordPress really is a secure software for running their websites.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider using WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at 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 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 when before your website is targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

”How Can Open Source Software Keep Hackers Away?”

Many people will often argue that WordPress should not be used for running a website or blog because it’s an “open source” and freely available software program.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and go through every line, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities that could be exploited …

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

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily go through the code searching for vulnerabilities and weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source platform actually makes it a lot more secure in many ways.

This is because WordPress is supported by an open community of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help to improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, the core application is built, maintained and updated by a large community of volunteers worldwide. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

WordPress 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 individuals dedicated to improving the code and making WordPress safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by an open community of volunteers. Image: make.wordpress.org)

The moment any security problems are discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core developers are then made aware of it …

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

The WordPress community support system is quite formidable and anyone can contribute to securing the software.

For example:

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

This is one of the reasons why WordPress releases new updates on a regular basis, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site regularly maintained …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an open source technology like WordPress is that users benefit from a large community of developers who continually contribute to make the software more secure. By contrast, proprietary or “closed-source” software applications are typically developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, maintenance services, bug fixes and software fixes.

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

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Applications

(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 Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were found in each of these open source platforms during a certain period …

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Platforms. Screenshot image: National Vulnerability Database)

Other research shows that, because WordPress is easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites run on WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame WordPress When Things Go Wrong

If someone hacks into your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to place the blame on 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 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 in this report didn’t even know how their websites had been compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that many security issues seem to be related to website owners forgetting to upgrade their CMS software to the latest version …

(Many WordPress users have not updated their WP sites. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only around between 20% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while 70% – 80% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by third-party developers …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)

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

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

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

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

Other Issues Affecting Blog Security

Other factors that can affect security include:

• No platform is completely safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The main risk of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems require regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as secure as the least safe site on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on that server can potentially become vulnerable to being hacked also.

There’s No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) updated, there’s no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to run your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful 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 web site presents hackers with a platform for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks. Learn more about it here:

• How To Make Your Blogs Hidden To Hackers With 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 back up your files manually, there are a number of plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Copy And Keep Your WP Websites And Blogs Protected 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, the above post has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

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