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

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

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

On March 11, 2014, many technology sites reported that 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered websites 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)

According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known 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 start questioning just how safe and secure the WordPress platform is for running websites.

WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers. But should you 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 at all 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 sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and things are getting 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 your website has been built with!

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

Is “Open Source” Safe?

Some people argue that WordPress should not be used for running a business online because it is a freely available open source software.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can study the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of the code and study every single line in detail, searching for holes and weaknesses that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone will attempt to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

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

This is because WordPress is supported by a huge volunteer community of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a global community of web developers is responsible for keeping the core application up-to-date. Image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of hundreds of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who are dedicated to improving the software, identifying and fixing security holes and making it safer for every user …

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

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

(WordPress is continually being improved by thousands of committed individuals community of web developers and users. Screenshot image: make.wordpress.org)

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

For example:

• If you discover bugs and a security issue, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WordPress plugin, you can also report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why WordPress is constantly releasing new updates, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site updated and maintained …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to plug security exploits)

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS platforms where often a much smaller team with limited resources is responsible for monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your business web presence on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the platform. Can a proprietary CMS 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 CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were found in each of these open source CMS platforms …

(WordPress has less security vulnerabilities than other leading CMS applications. Screenshot image: National Vulnerability Database)

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

(WordPress is safer to use than other leading CMS applications. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Platform

When WordPress sites get attacked en masse, don’t be quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch, most website owners have no idea about the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with security compromises.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t even know how their websites were compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that most security-related issues come from site owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many security issues come from sites running an outdated WordPress version. 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 …

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

Like many modern software platforms, WordPress is regularly updated in order 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.

WordPress … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation about WordPress security has even led Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime in and reply to posts online.

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

Other Areas That Can Affect Site Security

Other areas that can affect WordPress security include:

• No platform is protected from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The main threat in all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting accounts are only as secure as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on the shared server can potentially become vulnerable.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there is really no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to power your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  10 Ways To Help Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On Your WordPress Site

An unsecured website offers hackers with a valuable resource for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Web Sites – Make Your Web Sites Invisible To Hackers

If you are currently using an older WordPress version remember to make a backup before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, there are a number of free and paid plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Backup, Clone & Protect Your WP Websites And Blogs With Backup Creator WP Plugin

References

For more information on the above, refer to the sites below:

• ITProPortal.com
• National Vulnerability Database
• BlogDefender.com
• UpAndUpStudios.com
• StopBadware.org
• Sucuri.net
• WebDesign.org
• Quora.com
• Ma.tt

Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the security benefits of using the WP software please see other posts published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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