In early 2013 a global brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every WP host server in existence around the world.

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

(Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for hacker attacks)

On March 11, 2014, many leading technology sites reported that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress web sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Image source: 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When attacks on WordPress sites take place on such a wide scale, it’s natural for people to start questioning if WordPress really is a safe platform for running a business web presence.

WordPress powers millions of websites around the world, making it an obvious target for attempted attacks by hackers. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as 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 by looking at facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and the situation is only going to get worse.

You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but when before someone will attempt to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Secure?

Many people often argue that WordPress cannot be a safe platform for building and running websites because it is “open source” and freely available software.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download all of the code and study it in detail, searching for security holes that could be exploited …

(It’s no longer 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 a free application and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities (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 has the support of a global community consisting of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(WordPress is built, maintained and updated by a huge community of web developers. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users dedicated to improving the application and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by an open community of experienced web developers. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

The moment that a security problem is identified by developers or users, these are normally reported in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …

(WordPress is continually being improved by an open community of developers and users. Source: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anybody can help contribute to the process of getting bugs fixed.

For example:

• If you find bugs or a security weakness, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WP plugin, you can also report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why the core development team releases new security updates regularly, and why you need to keep your site updated …

(WordPress frequently releases new updates to plug security weaknesses)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

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

The WordPress CMS is free to download, use and modify, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the technology. 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 CMS Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in popular open source platforms during a certain period …

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

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

(Blog Defender – CMS Tests. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Not WordPress’ Fault

Whenever WordPress sites get attacked, don’t be too quick to place the blame on the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, most website owners are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their websites were hacked after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to site owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their sites. Screenshot: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot image: WebDesign.org)

Like many modern web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly in order to deal with new security risks that may arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress software, themes, plugins, etc..

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

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

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 around the world, including banks, large organizations and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect WordPress Site Security

Other studies on issues that affect website security point to areas like:

• No platform is completely protected from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The biggest threat in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems need constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Hosting setup. For example, sites on shared hosting accounts are only as safe as the least secure site on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on that shared server becomes vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you remember to implement basic security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there is really no reason why you shouldn’t use WordPress.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

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

A compromised blog provides malicious users with a resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your website to steal information from others. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and botnets. Go here to learn more:

• Blog Defender Review – How To Make Your Blogs Unseen By Hackers & Bots

If you are currently using an outdated WordPress version make sure you back up everything 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 many WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Clone & Keep Your WordPress Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

Article References

The above facts were referenced from various online sources, including those listed below:

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

Hopefully, the above information has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better business results 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 whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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