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

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

(WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs worldwide, which makes it a frequent target for hacking attempts)

In March 2014, technology sites began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress websites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)

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 sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever attacks on WordPress sites increase in frequency, it’s natural for website owners to question if WordPress really is a secure platform for running an online presence.

WordPress often is targeted by hackers. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should choose 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 worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation is getting worse.

It’s probably 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 not a matter of if, but when before a malicious user attempts to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

”How Can Open Source Programs Be Protected From Hacking?”

Some people argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running a business online because it’s a freely available open source program.

Open source CMS software 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 examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and study it in great detail, searching for vulnerabilities in the code that they can exploit …

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

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

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

(With WordPress, a community of thousands of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the core application code updated. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves because of 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 software, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by an open community of web developers. Image: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security vulnerability is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress developers are then notified …

(WordPress is continually being improved by a huge community community of users and web developers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system is quite formidable and anybody can help contribute to fixing the platform.

For example:

• If you notice bugs and security weaknesses, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WordPress plugin, you can report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why the WordPress team releases new version updates so often, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs frequently up-to-date …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to plug security vulnerabilities)

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS technologies where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a much smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to run your business presence online on a secure platform.

WordPress is 100% free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the software. 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 Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, 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 discovered in each of these open source platforms during a given period …

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

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

(WordPress has significantly less exposure to risk than other CMS platforms. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame WordPress When Things Go Wrong

Whenever WordPress sites are subjected to brute-force attacks, don’t be too quick to place the blame on WordPress.

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

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

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that many security-related issues come from website owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(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 a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust software platforms, WordPress is updated regularly in order to address new security vulnerabilities that can arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress software, plugins, themes, etc..

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

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

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

Other Issues That Can Affect WP Security

Other factors that can affect WordPress security include things such as:

• No platform is immune to hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, 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 strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Hosting setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as safe as the least secure website on the grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on your server becomes vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there’s really no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to run your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Tips

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

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

• Prevent Malicious Cyber Attacks On Your WordPress Web Sites From Hackers And Botnets

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress make sure to back up your WordPress website fully 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 perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Copy And Protect Your WordPress Site With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References

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 build a better business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit other posts we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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