In early 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to worldwide brute-force attacks.

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

(WordPress powers millions of sites worldwide, which makes it a natural target for attacks by hackers)

In March 2014, technology sites reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress websites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image source: BlogDefender website)

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

When brute-force attacks on WordPress sites increase in frequency, it’s natural for people to ask just how secure the WordPress platform is for running their sites.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers, due to its global popularity. But should you be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider choosing WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with the facts …

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

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

You can safely 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 your website has been built with!

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

”Isn’t Open Source Software Unsafe?”

Many people will often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running web sites because having open source code means that anyone can view how the application works.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of all of the code and go through every single line in great detail, searching for security weaknesses that could be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before a malicious user will attempt 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 holes or vulnerabilities that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open platform actually makes it more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a global community that consists of thousands of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help to improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a huge community of developers around the world is responsible for keeping the core application up-to-date. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves largely through the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of individuals committed to improving the code, fixing bugs and making WordPress safer for every user …

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

The moment any security holes are discovered by developers or users, the WordPress developers are then notified …

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

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

For example:

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

This is one of the reasons why the core development team is constantly releasing new updates, and why you need to keep your site up-to-date …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

Compare what we have just discussed above with proprietary technologies where often a smaller team with limited resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your business presence online 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 platform. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a completely free CMS application that you can download, use and modify as you 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 WordPress is safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities found in each of these platforms during a given period …

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

Other research shows that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites run on WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame The Technology

Whenever WordPress sites get attacked en masse, don’t be too quick to place the blame on WordPress.

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, many webmasters have no idea about the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with web security compromises.

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

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to users forgetting to update their WordPress software to a newer version …

(Many WordPress sites use outdated versions. Image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

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

Like many web applications, WordPress is updated regularly in order to address new security vulnerabilities that may arise. Improving software security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.

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

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 debate.

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, global corporations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers.

Other Areas Affecting Website Security

Other areas that can affect website security include:

• No platform is protected from hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
• The biggest security threat in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Hosting setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as secure as the least safe website on the hosting grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on your server is potentially vulnerable to being hacked as well.

There Is No Reason To Avoid Choosing WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their technology platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there’s no reason not to use WordPress to drive your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful 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 blog presents malicious users with a resource for distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Websites

If you are currently using an older version of WordPress remember to back up your WordPress site before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if something goes wrong, 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, Clone & Protect Your WP Web Sites With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

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 build a better business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business web site please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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