In 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack began hitting WordPress installations across virtually every host server in existence around the world.

These attacks were caused by computer networks infected with malware and programmed to attack other vulnerable sites (botnets).

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, many leading technology sites reported that 160,000+ WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. 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 leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever worldwide brute force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to question just how safe and secure WordPress is as an application for building and running their sites.

Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for attempted hacker attacks. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as 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 around the world is rising, and this is only going to get worse.

You can safely assume that if you haven’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 your website has been built with!

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

The “Open Source” Argument

Some people argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running websites because it is a freely available open source software program.

Open-source CMS programs like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone has access to the underlying software code.

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of all of the code and go through every line, searching for security weaknesses they can exploit …

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

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

This is because WordPress is supported by a global volunteer community that consists of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, the core application is built, maintained and updated by a huge community of hundreds of developers. Screenshot image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a huge volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who are dedicated to improving the application, identifying and fixing security issues and making WordPress safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a global community of users. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

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

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anyone can help contribute to securing the platform.

For example:

• If you notice bugs or a security exploit, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can also report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why WordPress releases new version updates so frequently, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs regularly maintained …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to plug security weaknesses)

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an open source technology like WordPress is that users benefit from a large community of developers who continually contribute to improve platform security. By contrast, proprietary or “closed-source” CMS applications are typically developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, software maintenance, bug fixes and software fixes.

WordPress is 100% free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the software. Can a proprietary technology 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 CMS Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(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 actually 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 each of these open source CMS platforms …

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Applications. Screenshot source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies also show that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites run on WordPress had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

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

It’s Not WordPress’ Fault

If someone hacks into your WordPress site, don’t be quick to place the blame on WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises, a large number of webmasters are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their websites had been compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

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

(Many WordPress users have not updated their sites. Screenshot image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image source: WebDesign.org)

Like many modern web applications, WordPress is regularly updated in order to address new security vulnerabilities that can arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes up-to-date.

WordPress Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank That Uses It!

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

In a 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, including banks, large organizations and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting Blog Security

Other areas that can affect security include issues like:

• 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 software that is out of date.
• The biggest security threat of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security processes require frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as secure as the least secure site on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on your server can potentially become vulnerable to being hacked as well.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there is really no reason to avoid using WordPress to power your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

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

A compromised website presents malicious users with a valuable resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Web Sites makes your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers. Go here to learn more:

• How To Make Your Blog Hidden To Hackers & Botnets With Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

If you are currently using an outdated WordPress version remember to make a backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore your web site or blog to its previous settings.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are a number of plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Backup, Clone And Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

References Used In This Article

For more information on the above, refer to the sites 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 problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about using WordPress please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles are published.

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