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

These attacks were caused by botnets (computers infected with viruses and programmed to attack other computers with security vulnerabilities).

(WordPress often comes under attack by hackers, due to its global popularity)

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

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot 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 WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When brute force attacks on WordPress sites are reported in the media, it’s natural for website owners to start questioning just how secure WordPress is as a platform for running their sites.

Powering millions of websites and blogs around the world makes WordPress a target for hackers. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business presence online?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with the facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.

It’s safe to 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 you use!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website will be targeted by malicious hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

The “Open Source” Argument For Security “Weakness”

Some people will often try and 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 program was built.

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

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

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before someone attempts 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 vulnerabilities and weaknesses (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 many ways.

This is because WordPress has the support of a volunteer community comprised 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, a global community of hundreds of developers is responsible for keeping the core application maintained and updated. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of a huge community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from thousands of individuals who, at any one time, are focused on improving the code, identifying and fixing security issues and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by an open community of WordPress users. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security problem is discovered by developers or users, these are immediately logged 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: WordPress.org)

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anybody can help contribute to the process of fixing security issues.

For example:

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

This is why the WordPress community is constantly releasing new version updates, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs regularly up-to-date …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary platforms where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will very quickly understand the value of using WordPress to power your websites and blogs 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 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 Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms include 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 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 discovered in each of these open source CMS platforms …

(WordPress experiences less security vulnerabilities than other leading CMS applications. Image: National Vulnerability Database)

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

(WordPress has a significant degree of less exposure to risk than other CMS applications. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Easier To Blame Technology When Things Go Wrong

If someone breaks into your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, a large number of webmasters have no idea about 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 in this report didn’t even know how their sites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that many security-related issues come from site owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their software. Image source: 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 found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

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

Like many modern software applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security vulnerabilities that can arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress software, themes, plugins, etc..

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

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

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

Other Areas That Can Affect Blog Security

Other areas that can affect WP website security include issues like:

• No platform is safe from hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The main security threat of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security processes need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Hosting server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting servers are only as safe as the least safe website on the grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on that server become vulnerable to being hacked also.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you remember to implement basic web security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly updated, there’s really no reason why you should not use 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 Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On Your WordPress Website

A compromised web site offers malicious users with a valuable platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your website to steal information from online users. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Web Sites makes your WordPress site invisible to botnets and hackers. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Protect Your WP Website From Hackers & Bots With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are currently using an outdated WordPress version remember to back up your site before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore everything to its former state.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are many free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Backup, Clone & Protect Your WP Sites With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

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, now you have a better understanding of issues 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 WordPress for a business website or blog please see other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles are published.

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