In early 2013 a global brute force attack began hitting WordPress installations across virtually every WP host server in existence.

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

(WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs around the world, making it an obvious target for hacking attempts)

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

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image 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)

As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever brute-force attacks on WordPress sites attract worldwide attention, it’s natural for people to ask just how safe and secure WordPress is as an application for building and running websites.

WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs worldwide, which makes it a frequent target for malicious attempts by hackers. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business web presence?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should choose WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation is only going to get worse.

You can safely 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 you use!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website is targeted by malicious hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Secure?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running websites and blogs because having open source code means that anyone can view how the program runs.

Open source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can view the entire underlying software code.

The argument, then, goes something like this: If anyone can access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of all of the code and study every single line, searching for security holes in the code that could be exploited …

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

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

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a global community consisting of hundreds of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, an open community of thousands of developers around the world is responsible for keeping the core application code updated. Screenshot image: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of hundreds of committed individuals working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of individuals committed to improving the software, identifying and fixing security issues and making WordPress safer for every user …

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

The moment any security problems are discovered by developers or users, these are normally reported in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core development team …

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

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

For example:

• If you find bugs or a security weakness, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WordPress plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why WordPress is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new updates to plug security weaknesses)

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

Compare the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary platforms where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a small team of developers with limited resources and you will very quickly understand the value of using WordPress to run your web presence on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is free to download, use and modify, and hundreds 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 software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(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, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in popular CMS platforms …

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Platforms. Screenshot image: National Vulnerability Database)

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

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

WordPress Is Not At Fault

If someone breaks into your WordPress site, don’t be quick to place the blame on the WordPress CMS platform.

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

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their sites were hacked after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security-related issues come from site owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Image 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 70% – 80% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

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

Like many web applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security problems that may 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 Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation online 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 use WordPress to build their presence online, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect WP Security

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

• No platform is completely immune to hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The main threat in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least secure website on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on your server can potentially become vulnerable to hacking as well.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Choosing WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you implement basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly updated, there’s really no reason not to use WordPress to run your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

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

A compromised web site provides malicious users with a platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• How To Prevent Malicious Intrusions On Your WordPress Web Site From Hackers & Botnets 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 risks. 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 plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Back Up, Duplicate & Protect Your WP Web Sites With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

References

The above statistics were sourced from the following sites:

• 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 problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please click on links to visit other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

***