In April 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across almost every host server in existence around the world.

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

(Being the world’s most popular content management system makes WordPress an obvious target for attacks by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 162,000 WordPress websites 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)

According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever global brute force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to ask just how secure the WordPress platform is for building and running their websites.

Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for malicious attempts by hackers. 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 are concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and this is getting worse.

It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!

Since it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone attempts to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Safe?

Many people often argue that WordPress is not a secure platform for building and running websites because it’s a freely available open source software application.

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 access the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and study it, searching for security holes that could be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website is 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 vulnerabilities and weaknesses that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it more secure in many ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a huge community consisting of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, an open community of hundreds of volunteers around the world is responsible for keeping the software platform up-to-date. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of hundreds of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the code, fixing bugs and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by an open community of web developers. Source: WordPress.org)

As soon as any security problem is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress development team are then made aware of it …

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by a global community community of users and developers. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anybody can help contribute to the improvement of the platform.

For example:

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

This is the reason why the WordPress team releases new version updates so frequently, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs frequently up-to-date …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to address any security vulnerabilities found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary platforms where often the responsibility for maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a small team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly realize the value of using WordPress to power your websites and blogs on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the technology. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, there is valid research to support the fact that the WordPress CMS is safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in each of these platforms during a given period …

(WordPress experiences fewer security vulnerabilities than other CMS platforms. Image source: National Vulnerability Database)

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

(WordPress users are not as exposed to security threats as other CMS platform users. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

The WordPress CMS Is Not To Blame

When WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, don’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, a large number of webmasters have no idea about the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with web security compromises.

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

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

Of more immediate concern is the fact that many security-related issues arise from website owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many WordPress users have not updated their sites. Source: 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 core software, while 70% – 75% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WordPress Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

Like many web applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security vulnerabilities that can arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes up-to-date.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

The amount of misinformation about how secure WordPress is has even led the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime into the online discussion.

In an article entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” published 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 use WordPress to build their presence online, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect Site Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in WordPress security point to factors like:

• 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 main vulnerability of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes need constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as secure as the least safe website on the grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on that shared server becomes vulnerable.

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

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there’s no reason why you should not choose 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:  WordPress Brute-Force Attack Prevention Measures

A compromised web site offers hackers with a valuable platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Malicious Attacks On Your WordPress Web Sites By Hackers

If you are currently using an outdated WordPress version make sure to back up everything 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 fully automate your backup process here: Back Up, Duplicate & Protect Your WP Sites With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

Article References

The above facts 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, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site 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 posts published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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