In 2013 a global brute-force attack began hitting WordPress installations across almost every WP host server in existence.

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

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

On March 11, 2014, many technology sites began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image: 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever attacks on WordPress sites are reported in the media, it’s natural for people to start asking just how secure the WordPress platform is for running their websites.

WordPress is the world’s most used CMS which makes it an obvious target for malicious attacks by hackers. But should you be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and the situation is getting worse.

It’s probably safe to 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 when before your website is targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Software Secure?

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

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download all of the code and go through every line, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities that can be exploited …

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

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

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

(WordPress is built, maintained and updated by a huge community of web developers. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of a global volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds 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 by a large community of volunteer members. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

The moment any security problems are discovered by developers or users, these are reported 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. Source: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system is very responsive and anybody can contribute to improving the platform.

For example:

• If you come across bugs and a security vulnerability, you can report these by sending an email to 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 version updates regularly, and why you need to keep your WordPress site regularly up-to-date …

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

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” CMS applications are normally built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, support, bug fixes and software fixes.

The WordPress CMS is free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the platform. Can a proprietary technology 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 CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, there is valid research showing that WordPress 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 given period …

(WordPress experiences less security vulnerabilities than other leading CMS platforms. Source: National Vulnerability Database)

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

(WordPress users are less exposed to exploits than other CMS platform users. Image: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Not WordPress’ Fault

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

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, many webmasters have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with security compromises.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their websites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to users running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

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

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 20% – 30% 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 developed externally …

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

Like all robust web applications, WordPress is regularly updated to address new security issues that may arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

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

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

Other Areas That Can Affect Security

Other studies on issues that affect website security point to factors such as:

• No platform is immune to security threats. 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 main risk in all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Hosting setup. For example, sites on shared hosting servers are only as safe as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on your shared server can potentially become vulnerable to being hacked also.

There Is No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there is really no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to run your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  How To Protect Your WordPress Site From Brute-Force Attacks

An unsecured blog presents hackers with a platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and use your website to defraud innocent people. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• Make Your Websites Invisible To Bots And Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Blogs

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

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Backup, Duplicate And Protect Your WP Websites And Blogs 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, this post has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better business results online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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