In early 2013 a global brute-force attack hit WordPress installations on almost every host server in existence.

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

(Being the world’s most popular content management system makes WordPress a target for hacking attacks)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites reported that over 162,000 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.

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

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 WP web sites 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 start questioning if WordPress really is a secure platform for running their sites.

Powering millions of websites around the world makes WordPress a target for hacking attacks. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business presence online?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely choose WordPress if you have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

Thousands of websites and blogs 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.

You can safely 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 no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone tries to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

How Secure Are “Open Source” Software Programs?

Some people often argue that WordPress cannot be a safe platform for building and running a website or blog because it is a freely available open source software program.

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

The argument, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download the code and go through every line, searching for security vulnerabilities in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website is targeted by hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

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

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

(With WordPress, an open volunteer community of web developers is responsible for keeping the software code maintained and updated. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of a global volunteer community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of individuals who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

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

The moment that any security weakness is identified by developers or users, these are recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core developers …

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

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

For example:

If you come across bugs or a security exploit, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can also report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why the WordPress team is constantly releasing new version updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs regularly maintained …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to plug security vulnerabilities)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an open source platform like WordPress is that users benefit from a large community of developers who continually contribute to make the platform more secure. By contrast, proprietary or “closed-source” software applications are developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, support, bug fixes and updates.

WordPress 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 free application that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress 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 safer than other Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular open source CMS platforms …

(WordPress experiences fewer security vulnerabilities than other CMS platforms. Image source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies indicate that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites run on WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

(BlogDefender.com – CMS Tests. Source: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Easier To Blame Technology When Things Go Wrong

Whenever WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, don’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

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“, a large number of webmasters are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with compromises.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their websites were compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

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

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WP software. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined 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 65% – 80% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

(WP Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust software applications, WordPress is regularly updated in order to address new security risks that could arise. Improving software security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress.

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation 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 …

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

Other Factors Affecting WordPress Security

Other issues that can affect WP blog security include:

No platform is protected from hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
The main vulnerability of all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security recommendations.
Lack of constant system monitoring. Security systems need regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as secure as the least secure website on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on your server can potentially become vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Why You Should Not Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) updated, there’s no reason why you should not use WordPress to run 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 From Brute Force Attacks

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

How To Prevent Malicious Cyber Attacks On Your WordPress Site By Hackers And Bots With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are currently using an older version of WordPress remember to back up everything before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Back Up, Copy And Keep Your WordPress Websites Protected With Backup Creator WP Plugin

References Used In This Article

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

Hopefully, the above post has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please see other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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Tag: Secure WordPress