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

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

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers, due to its popularity)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites reported that 160,000+ WordPress web sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot image: 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 WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever brute force attacks on WordPress sites take place on a worldwide scale, it’s natural for website owners to ask if WordPress really is a secure software for running their sites.

WordPress is the world’s most used CMS which makes it a natural target for hacker attacks. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as being 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 have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, 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 when before your website will be targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

How Secure Is “Open Source” Software?

Many people will often try and argue that WordPress should not be used for running a business online because its open source code means that anyone can view how the software application works.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can access the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain all of the code and go through all of it in detail, looking for holes and weaknesses that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer 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 a free application and hackers can easily go through the code searching for security vulnerabilities and weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software application), the fact that WordPress is a free, open application actually makes it a whole lot more secure in several ways.

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

(With WordPress, a large community of thousands of volunteers worldwide is responsible for keeping the core application code updated. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of thousands of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who are dedicated to improving the software and making WordPress safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by an open community of web developers. Source: WordPress.org)

The moment any security vulnerabilities are discovered by developers or users, these are then recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core developers …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anybody can contribute to fixing the software.

For example:

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

This is one of the reasons why the WordPress community releases new updates so often, and why you need to keep your sites and blogs regularly maintained …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to address security weaknesses)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

Compare the benefits of using an open source CMS platform like WordPress with proprietary CMS platforms where often a small team with limited time and resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the value of using WordPress to run your website or blog on a secure platform.

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

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, research shows that the WordPress CMS is actually safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

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

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

Other studies also show that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and maintain, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites run on WordPress had less exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame The Technology

When WordPress sites are attacked en masse, don’t be quick to blame WordPress.

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

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their sites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to site owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many security issues come from sites running an outdated WordPress version. 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 actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

(WP Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like many modern software platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security threats that can arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation online about how secure WordPress is 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 …

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

Other Factors Affecting Blog Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in website security point to things like:

• No platform is immune to security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to software that is out of date.
• The main security vulnerability in all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as secure as the least secure site on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on that server can potentially become vulnerable to hacking also.

There Is No Reason Why You Should Not Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you remember to implement basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there is no reason to avoid choosing WordPress for your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  WordPress Brute-Force Attack Prevention Measures

A compromised web site presents hackers with a valuable resource for distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Websites & Blogs makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and botnets. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Make Your Site Unseen By Bots And Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress remember to back up everything before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are a number of plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Back Up, Clone And Keep Your WP Web Site Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

Article 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, the above post has given you a better understanding of problems 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 articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

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