In April 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to global-scale brute-force attacks.

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

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

In March 2014, many technology sites began reporting that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

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

When global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to question just how secure the WordPress platform is for building and running their sites.

WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers, due to its popularity. But do you 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 definitely choose WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and it’s 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?

Are “Open Source” Software Programs Really Safe?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites and blogs because it’s “open source” and freely available software program.

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

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

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

While it’s true that WordPress is a free application and hackers can easily go through the code looking for holes and vulnerabilities that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software application), the fact that WordPress is a free, open application actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.

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

(With WordPress, the platform is built, maintained and updated by a large community of developers around the world. Source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of a huge community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of individuals who are dedicated to improving the application and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by an open community of web developers. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

As soon as a security hole is discovered by developers or users, these are logged in user forums and addressed by the WordPress development team …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anyone can contribute to the process of addressing vulnerabilities.

For example:

• If you come across bugs and security exploits, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a plugin, you can report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why the WordPress team releases new updates so often, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs regularly updated …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to plug security holes)

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

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

WordPress is free to download, use and modify, 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 you software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, research shows that WordPress is actually safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in popular platforms during a certain period …

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

Other research indicates that, because WordPress is easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had significantly less exposure to risk …

(WordPress users are less exposed to security exploits than other CMS platform users. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)

The WordPress CMS Is Not To Blame

When WordPress sites are attacked en masse, users shouldn’t be quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is 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 secure a website, or how to deal with security compromises.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their websites had been hacked after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that many security problems seem to be related to site owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Source: 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 70% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by third-party developers …

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

Like many software applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security threats that can arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress.

WordPress … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

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

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 choose WordPress to build their websites, including banks, large organizations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues Affecting WordPress Site Security

Other studies on issues that affect WordPress security point to things such as:

• No platform is safe from hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The biggest weakness in all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security processes need frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Hosting setup. For example, sites on shared hosting 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 all sites on the server can potentially become vulnerable to hacking also.

There’s No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there’s no reason why you should not choose WordPress.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

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

A vulnerable web site presents malicious users with a resource to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Hackers & Bots From Attacking Your Site With Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

If you are currently using an older WordPress version remember to back up your WordPress website fully before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore everything to its former settings.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Backup, Copy And Protect Your WordPress Web Sites With Backup Creator WP Plugin

Article References

The above statistics 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 post has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using the WP CMS software please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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