In early 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack began hitting WordPress installations on virtually every host server in existence.

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

(WordPress is the world’s most used CMS which makes it an obvious target for hacking attempts)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.

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

According to 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.

Whenever brute-force attacks on WordPress sites are reported in the media, it’s natural for people to question if WordPress really is a secure software for running websites.

WordPress is the world’s most used content management system which makes it a natural target for malicious attempts by hackers. But do you need to 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 by looking at some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and things are only going to get worse.

It’s probably 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 your website has been built with!

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

How Secure Is “Open Source” Software?

Many people will often try and argue that WordPress is not a safe platform for building and running a web presence because it’s a freely available open source software application.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can study the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily download the code and study every single line, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities they can exploit …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website will be targeted by malicious hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for holes or weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in several ways.

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

(The WordPress software platform is built, maintained and updated by a global community of volunteers. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of hundreds of committed individuals working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users dedicated to improving the code, identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities and making WordPress safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a large community of volunteers. Source: WordPress.org)

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

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

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

For example:

• If you find bugs and security holes, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can 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 WordPress sites and blogs regularly up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to address security issues)

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Compare the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress 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 quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your business presence online on a secure platform.

WordPress is 100% free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the technology. Can a proprietary CMS 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 Applications

(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, there is valid research showing that WordPress is actually safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular platforms during a certain period …

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

Other research shows that, because WordPress is easy to use and maintain, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had significantly less exposure to risk …

(WordPress is more secure than other CMS platforms. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Not WordPress’ Fault

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 properly secure a website, or deal with compromises.

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

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to users simply not updating their CMS software to a newer version …

(Many WordPress sites use outdated versions. Screenshot source: 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 most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)

Like many modern software applications, WordPress is updated regularly to address new security threats that may arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.

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 discussion.

In an article 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 around the world use WordPress to build their presence online, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas Affecting WP Website Security

Other issues that can affect blog security include things such as:

• No platform is immune to hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The main vulnerability in all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security processes require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least secure website on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site broken into, then all sites on the server are potentially vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is a secure web platform. 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 themes, plugins, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there’s no reason not to use WordPress to power your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  Preventing WordPress Brute-Force Attacks

A compromised web site provides hackers with a valuable resource for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• How To Prevent Malicious Cyber-Attacks On Your WP Websites By Hackers & Bots With Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress

If you are currently using an outdated version of WordPress make sure to back up your site fully before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Duplicate And Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

References Used In This Article

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, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you expand 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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