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

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

(Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress a target for hacking)

On March 11, 2014, many technology sites reported that 162,000 WordPress websites had been hacked.

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

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

Whenever global brute-force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to question just how secure the WordPress platform is for building and running their websites.

Being the world’s most used content management system makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as 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 facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are 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 your website has been built with!

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?

Is An “Open Source” Software Really Safe?

Some people argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running a business online because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software application runs.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily download the code and go through all of it in detail, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the code that could be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone will try 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 security vulnerabilities and weaknesses that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it a lot more secure in several ways.

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

(A community is responsible for maintaining and updating the WordPress core application. Image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of minds committed to improving the application, identifying and fixing security holes and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by an open community of users. Source: WordPress.org)

The moment any security problems are identified by developers or users, the WordPress core developers are then made aware of it …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anyone can help contribute to the process of addressing security issues.

For example:

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

This is why the WordPress community is constantly releasing new updates, and why you continually need to keep your site regularly maintained …

(WordPress frequently releases new updates to address security holes)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

Compare the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary CMS technologies where often a small team with limited time and resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly understand the value of using WordPress to run your business presence online on a secure platform.

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

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

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 the number of security vulnerabilities found in popular platforms during a certain period …

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

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

(WordPress users are not as exposed to exploits as other CMS platform users. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)

WordPress Is Not To Blame

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

According to security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises 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 secure a website, or how to deal with web security compromises.

In fact, 63% 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 were hacked. Screenshot source: StopBadware.org)

Of immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security-related problems come from website owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many WordPress users have not updated their WP sites. Source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 20% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by third-party developers …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust software applications, WordPress is updated regularly in order to deal with new security risks that can 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 … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

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

In an article entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” posted 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 websites, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting Security

Other areas that can affect WordPress blog security include factors such as:

• No platform is protected from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to software that is out of date.
• The main weakness of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting 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 every site on the server is potentially vulnerable to hacking as well.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses of all sizes to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t choose WordPress to drive your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

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

A vulnerable web site presents hackers with a resource for distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and bots. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Make Your WP Blogs Unseen By Hackers 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 something goes wrong, you can always restore your web site or blog to its previous state.

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

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, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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