In 2013 a worldwide brute force attack struck WordPress installations across virtually every WP host server in existence.

These attacks were caused by computers infected with malware and programmed to attack other vulnerable computers (called “botnets”).

(Powering millions of websites worldwide makes WordPress a target for hacker attacks)

On March 11, 2014, many technology sites began reporting that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress websites had been hacked.

(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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever worldwide attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to ask just how secure WordPress is as a software for running websites.

WordPress is the world’s most popular CMS making it a natural target for attempted hacker attacks. But do you 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 consider using WordPress if you have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with the facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s only going to get worse.

It’s 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 you use!

Since it’s not a matter of if, but when before your website will be targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Safe From Hacking?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running websites because it is 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 entire software code.

The argument, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and study every single line in great detail, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the code that could be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone tries to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is a free program and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for security holes and vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in a number of ways.

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

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

WordPress evolves through the effort of thousands of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users dedicated to improving the software, fixing bugs and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a large community of WordPress users. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

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

(WordPress is continually being improved by thousands of committed individuals community of users and developers. Screenshot image: WordPress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anybody can help contribute to securing the platform.

For example:

• If you find bugs or security exploits, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why the core development team is constantly releasing new version updates, and why you need to keep your sites and blogs up-to-date …

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary technologies 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 realize the security benefits of using WordPress to run your site on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the technology. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users a free software that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS 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 Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in each of these CMS platforms …

(WordPress has fewer security vulnerabilities than other leading CMS applications. Source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies show that, because WordPress is easy to use and to update, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites built with WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame The WordPress CMS

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

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, many webmasters are not fully aware of the security 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 sites had been hacked after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security-related issues result from users forgetting to update their WordPress software to the latest version …

(Many WordPress sites use outdated versions. Screenshot 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 core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like many modern web applications, WordPress is regularly updated in order to address new security threats that can arise. Improving 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 Secure – Just Ask Any Bank Using It!

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

In a blog 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 choose WordPress to build their websites, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect Security

Other factors that can affect security include things such as:

• No platform is completely protected from hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to outdated software.
• The biggest security risk in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security systems need frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, websites on shared hosting accounts are only as secure as the least secure website on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on the shared server becomes vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you implement basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there is no reason not to use WordPress for your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  Ten Security Measures That Can Help To Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On Your WordPress Website

An unsecured blog provides malicious users with a valuable platform for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Learn more about this plugin here:

• How To Secure Your WP Web Sites From Hackers & Bots

If you are using older WordPress versions remember to make a complete backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Back Up, Duplicate And Keep Your WordPress Websites And Blogs Protected With Backup Creator WP Plugin

Article References

The above facts were sourced from the following sites:

• 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 web site and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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