In early 2013 a global brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across almost every WP hosting server in existence.

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

(WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs worldwide, making it a target for attempted attacks by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot: 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 security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever attacks on WordPress sites are reported in the media, it’s natural for website owners to start asking if WordPress really is a secure application for running a business web presence.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business website?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with the facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and it’s only going to get worse.

You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 not a matter of if, but when before someone attempts to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Are “Open Source” Applications Really Safe?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running a website or blog because its open source code means that anyone can view how the software works.

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

The argument, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download all of the code and go through every single line in detail, searching for security weaknesses in the code that they can exploit …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone attempts to hack your website … 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 and weaknesses (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.

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

(With WordPress, a huge community of thousands of developers is responsible for keeping the core application code maintained and updated. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of a huge volunteer community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of individuals who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software, identifying and fixing security holes and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a global community of web developers. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

The moment that a security weakness is discovered by developers or users, these are noted in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …

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

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

For example:

• If you find bugs and security vulnerabilities, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why the WordPress team releases new version updates on a regular basis, and why you continually need to keep your site regularly up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new updates to address security holes)

WordPress Vs Proprietary Platforms

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS platform like WordPress with proprietary CMS platforms where often a smaller team with limited time and resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the security benefits of using WordPress to power your business presence online 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 platform. 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 CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were found in each of these CMS platforms …

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

Other studies show that, because WordPress is easy to use and update, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had less exposure to risk …

(WordPress users are not as exposed to risks as other CMS platform users. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

If someone hacks into your WordPress site, 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 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 security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with security compromises.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their sites were compromised by hackers after an attack …

(Many webmasters don’t know how their sites got hacked. Image source: StopBadware.org)

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

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WP software. Screenshot image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only between 20% – 30% percent 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 for WordPress …

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

Like all robust web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly in order to address new security problems that may 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 Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank That Uses It!

The amount of misinformation about how secure WordPress is has even caused Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime into the debate.

In a blog post 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 around the world choose WordPress to build their websites, including banks, large organizations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors That Can Affect Security

Other areas that can affect WP website security include factors like:

• No platform is safe from security threats. 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 biggest threat of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security systems need regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least secure website on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on the shared server can potentially become vulnerable to being hacked as well.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you remember to implement basic web security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their technology platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there is no reason not to choose WordPress.

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 To Prevent Brute Force Attacks On Your WordPress Website

An unsecured site presents hackers with a valuable platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Web Sites makes your WordPress site invisible to botnets and hackers. Go here to learn more:

• Secure Your WP Blog From Hackers With Blog Defender

If you are currently using an older WordPress version remember to make a backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are many free and paid plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Backup, Clone & Keep Your WordPress Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator WP Plugin

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 problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you expand your business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website 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.

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