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

These attacks were caused by networks of infected computers programmed to attack other vulnerable computers (called “botnets”).

(WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers, due to its popularity)

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

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Source: BlogDefender.com)

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

When brute-force attacks on WordPress sites happen, it’s natural for people to question if WordPress really is a secure platform for building and running their sites.

WordPress is the world’s most used content management system making it a frequent target for attempted attacks by hackers. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should use WordPress if you are concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

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

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

It’s safe to 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 you use!

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

”Isn’t Open Source Software Highly Vulnerable?”

Many people will often try and argue that WordPress is not a safe platform for running web sites because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software application works.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain the code and go through it in great detail, searching for security vulnerabilities in the code that could be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but when before someone tries to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for security holes and vulnerabilities that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it more secure in several ways.

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

(With WordPress, the platform is built, maintained and updated by a huge community of volunteers. Source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of hundreds of committed individuals working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of minds who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a large community of experienced web developers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

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

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anybody can contribute to improving the software.

For example:

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

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

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

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

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

WordPress Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in each of these CMS platforms …

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Platforms. Image source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies also show that, because WordPress is easy to use and update, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites run on WordPress had less exposure to risk …

(WordPress is safer to use than other CMS applications. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Platform

If someone compromises the security of your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to blame WordPress.

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

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

(Many webmasters don’t even know how their sites got hacked. Screenshot source: StopBadware.org)

Of immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to website owners not updating their WordPress software to the latest version …

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

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while 70% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by third-party developers …

(WordPress Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

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

WordPress Is Secure – Even Banks Use It!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even caused the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, 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, including banks, global corporations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers.

Other Issues Affecting WP Website Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in website security point to areas such as:

• No platform is completely safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The biggest security vulnerability of all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security processes need regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting setup. For example, sites on shared hosting accounts are only as safe as the least safe website on the grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on the server is potentially vulnerable.

There Is No Reason To Avoid Choosing WordPress

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

WordPress Security – Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  10 Security Measures That Can Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On WordPress

A vulnerable website presents hackers with a platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Malicious Intrusions On Your WordPress Web Sites By Hackers & Bots With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress remember 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 your website to its previous state.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Back Up, Copy & Protect Your WordPress Web Sites With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References

The facts quoted in this article 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, the above post has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better business results online. To learn more about using the WordPress software please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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