In April 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to global-scale brute force attacks.
These attacks were caused by botnets (networks of infected computers programmed to attack other computers).
(WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers, due to its global popularity)
In March 2014, technology sites began reporting that 162,000 legitimate 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
When attacks on WordPress sites take place on a global scale, it’s natural for website owners to start asking if WordPress really is a safe software for building and running an online presence.
WordPress powers millions of sites worldwide, making it an obvious target for hacking. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?
In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should choose WordPress if you are concerned about website security.
WordPress Security Explained
Let’s start with some facts …
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year … not just WordPress sites!
The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and it’s getting worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’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 attempts to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?
How Secure Is “Open Source” Software?
Some people will often try to argue that WordPress is not a safe platform for building and running web sites because its open source code means that anyone can view how the software application was built.
Open source CMS software like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can access the entire underlying code.
The argument, then, goes something like this: If everyone can access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily obtain all of the code and go through every single line, searching for holes and weaknesses they could exploit …
(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before your website will be targeted by malicious hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)
While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily go through the code looking for holes and vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.
The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by an open community of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …
(With WordPress, a global volunteer community of hundreds of web developers is responsible for keeping the platform code maintained and updated. Image: WordPress.org)
WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from thousands of minds committed to improving the application, fixing bugs and making WordPress safer for every user …
(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a large community of volunteer members. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)
As soon as a security vulnerability is discovered by developers or users, these are immediately logged in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …
(WordPress is continually being improved upon by an open community of users and developers. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)
The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anybody can help contribute to improving the software.
For example:
- If you come across bugs or a security exploit, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
- If you find any issues in a plugin, you can report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.
This is why the WordPress team is constantly releasing new updates, and why you need to keep your site up-to-date …
(WordPress continually releases new version updates to address security holes)
WordPress 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 make the software more secure. By contrast, proprietary or “closed-source” CMS platforms are normally developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, support, bug fixes and software fixes.
WordPress is free to download, use and modify, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the software. Can a proprietary CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a completely free application 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 actually safer than other Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.
For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular CMS platforms …
(WordPress experiences fewer security vulnerabilities than other CMS platforms. Image source: National Vulnerability Database)
Other studies also indicate that, because WordPress is easy to use and keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …
(Blog Defender – CMS Tests. Image source: BlogDefender.com)
WordPress Is Not To Blame
Whenever WordPress sites get attacked, don’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.
According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises, most webmasters have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.
In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t even know how their websites were compromised by hackers after an attack …
(Many webmasters don’t know how their sites got hacked. Screenshot image: StopBadware.org)
Of immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that most security-related problems come from users running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …
(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WordPress software. Screenshot image: Sucuri.net)
When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …
(WP Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)
Like many web applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security threats that could arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress software, plugins, themes, etc..
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 an article 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 around the world use WordPress to build their presence online, including banks, large organizations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.
Other Factors That Can Affect Security
Other issues that can affect security include things like:
- No platform is safe from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
- The biggest security threat in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
- Lack of constant system monitoring. All security processes require regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
- Hosting server setup. For example, websites on shared hosting accounts are only as safe as the least secure site on the hosting grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then all sites on the server are potentially vulnerable.
There’s No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Use WordPress
As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses of all sizes to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their chosen web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there’s really no reason to avoid choosing WordPress.
WordPress Security – Practical Tips
To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article: Preventing WordPress From Brute Force Attacks
A vulnerable web site presents hackers with a resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Learn more about it here:
If you are using outdated WordPress versions remember to back up everything before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore everything to its former settings.
If you don’t want to back up your files manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Duplicate And Keep Your WP Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP
References Used In This Article
The above statistics were referenced from various 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 article has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website or blog please see other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.
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