In April 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to a global-scale brute force attack.
These attacks were caused by botnets (infected computer networks programmed to attack other sites with security vulnerabilities).
(WordPress often is targeted by hackers, due to its global popularity)
In March 2014, many leading technology sites began reporting that 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.
(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. 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 websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
When global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to ask if WordPress really is a safe software for building and running an online presence.
Being the world’s most popular content management system makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking. But do you really need to 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 choosing WordPress if you have any concerns 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 scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and the situation is only going to get worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 you use!
Since it’s not a matter of if, but when before a malicious user will attempt 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 argue that WordPress cannot be a secure platform for running websites or blogs because its open source code means that anyone can view how the software application works.
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 against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can view the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and go through every single line in great detail, searching for security weaknesses they can exploit …
(It’s not a matter of if, but when before your website is targeted by malicious hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)
While it’s true that WordPress is a free application and hackers can easily go through the code looking for security holes and weaknesses (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.
The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a global community consisting of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the software and make WordPress more secure …
(With WordPress, an open community of volunteers worldwide is responsible for keeping the software platform updated. Image source: make.wordpress.org)
WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of thousands of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from thousands of minds committed to improving the application, identifying and fixing security issues and making WordPress safer for every user …
(The WordPress core software is built by a global community of contributors. Image: make.wordpress.org)
The moment that any security weakness is discovered by developers or users, these are then noted in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …
(WordPress is continually being improved upon by an open community of web developers and users. Source: make.wordpress.org)
The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anyone can help contribute to securing the software.
For example:
- If you discover bugs or a security issue, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
- If you find issues in a plugin, you can also report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.
This is the reason why WordPress is constantly releasing new updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs up-to-date …
(WordPress continually releases new version updates to address any security holes found)
WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms
Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS platforms where often a much smaller team with limited resources is responsible for monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will quickly realize the value of using WordPress to power your site on a secure platform.
WordPress is 100% free to download, modify and use, and hundreds 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 CMS software that they can download, use and modify as they wish?
WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Platforms
(CMS Platforms)
Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, research shows that WordPress is actually safer than other Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.
For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in popular CMS platforms …
(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Platforms. Screenshot image: National Vulnerability Database)
Other research shows that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to keep updated, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had less exposure to risk …
(BlogDefender.com – CMS Tests. Image: BlogDefender.com)
WordPress Is Not Always To Blame
When WordPress sites are subjected to brute-force attacks, you shouldn’t be 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, most website owners are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with web security compromises.
In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their websites were hacked after an attack …
(Many webmasters don’t know how their sites were hacked. Screenshot image: StopBadware.org)
Of immediate concern is the fact that many security problems seem to be related to website owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …
(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their software. Screenshot: Sucuri.net)
When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while 65% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …
(WP Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)
Like all robust software 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 your WordPress software, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.
WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!
The amount of misinformation about how secure WordPress is has even caused Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime into the discussion.
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, including banks, global corporations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.
Other Issues That Can Affect Security
Other areas that can affect WordPress security include factors like:
- No platform is safe from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using outdated software.
- The biggest security weakness of all web 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 constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
- Webhosting server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting are only as secure as the least safe site on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then all sites on the server can potentially become vulnerable to hacking as well.
There Is No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress
As you can see, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you implement basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there is 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: Protecting WordPress From Brute-Force Attacks
A compromised website presents malicious users with a platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your site to steal information from others. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers. Go here to learn more:
If you are currently using an older WordPress version make sure you back up your site fully before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore things back to their previous state.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Duplicate & Protect Your WP Websites And Blogs With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin
References Used In This Article
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 information has given you a better understanding of problems 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 web site please click on links to visit other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group