In April 2013 a worldwide brute force attack hit WordPress installations on virtually every WP hosting server in existence around the world.

These attacks were caused by botnets (infected computer networks programmed to attack other installations with security vulnerabilities).

(Powering millions of websites and blogs worldwide makes WordPress an obvious target for attempted attacks by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Image source: Blog Defender)

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 WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When brute force attacks on WordPress sites receive attention worldwide, it’s natural for people to start asking just how secure WordPress is as an application for running a business web presence.

Powering millions of websites worldwide makes WordPress a target for hacking. 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 choose WordPress if you are concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.

It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone does attempt to hack into your site … 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 tries to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Are “Open Source” Software Applications Really Safe?

Many people argue that WordPress cannot be a safe platform for building and running a website or blog because its open source code means that anyone can view how the program code works.

Open source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can view the entire underlying code.

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily obtain the code and study it, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the code that could be exploited …

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

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

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

(With WordPress, the software platform is built, maintained and updated by a community of hundreds of volunteers worldwide. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software, identifying and fixing security issues and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a global community of volunteer web developers. Image: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security issues are identified by developers or users, these are then reported in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core development team …

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

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

For example:

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

This is the reason why WordPress is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you continually need to keep your site regularly up-to-date …

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary platforms 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 value and advantages of using WordPress to power your business presence online on a secure platform.

WordPress is 100% free to download, use and modify, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the platform. Can a proprietary CMS 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 Vs Other Open Source CMS 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 WordPress is safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in popular CMS platforms …

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

Other studies indicate that, because WordPress is quite 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 less exposed to security risks than other CMS platform users. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Platform

Whenever WordPress sites get attacked en masse, users shouldn’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch, 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 compromises.

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

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that many security issues seem to be related to website owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Screenshot: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 20% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while 65% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

(WP Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust web applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security problems that can arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

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

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

Other Factors That Can Affect Security

Other factors that can affect website security include:

• No platform is completely protected from hackers. 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 biggest security threat in all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting accounts are only as safe as the least safe site on the grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then all sites on that server become vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly updated, there’s really no reason not to choose WordPress.

WordPress Security – 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 site provides hackers with a resource for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• How To Prevent Malicious Cyber-Attacks On Your WP Blogs From Botnets And Hackers

If you are currently using an older WordPress version make sure you back up everything before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their previous settings.

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 site backups here: Backup, Duplicate And Protect Your WP Web Sites With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References Used In This Article

The facts quoted in this article were referenced from various online 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, the above article has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using the WordPress platform please click on links to visit other posts published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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