In 2013 a global brute force attack struck WordPress installations on virtually every WP host server in existence.

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

(WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, many technology sites began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.

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

Whenever attacks on WordPress sites happen, it’s natural for people to start questioning just how secure the WordPress platform is for building and running their sites.

Being the world’s most used content management system makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking attempts. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

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 by looking at facts …

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

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

It’s safe to 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 you use!

Since it’s no longer 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?

Is An “Open Source” Software Secure?

Many people will often try and argue that WordPress is not a safe platform for building and running a web presence because its “open source” code is freely available.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can study the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain the code and go through every single line in detail, searching for security holes in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before a malicious user tries to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is a free application and hackers can easily go through the code searching for holes or weaknesses that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open application actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a huge community comprised of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, an open volunteer community of developers is responsible for keeping the core application updated. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from hundreds of minds committed to improving the application and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by an open community of experienced web developers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

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

(WordPress is continually being improved by an open community of users and developers. Image 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 and security issues, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WordPress plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why the WordPress team is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs updated and maintained …

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS 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 improve software security. By contrast, proprietary or “closed-source” CMS platforms are typically developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, maintenance services, bug fixes and software fixes.

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

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities found in each of these open source platforms during a certain period …

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

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

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

Don’t Blame WordPress When Things Go Wrong

If someone compromises the security of your WordPress site, don’t be quick to blame WordPress.

According to security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, a large number of 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 60% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their sites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that many security-related issues come from users running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Screenshot image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at 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 extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

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

Like many modern web platforms, WordPress is regularly updated in order to address new security risks that can arise. Improving security is an ongoing 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 Using It!

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

Other Issues Affecting Site Security

Other studies on issues that affect WordPress 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 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 good password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security processes need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on the server are potentially vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there’s no reason to avoid choosing WordPress.

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

An unsecured blog offers hackers with a valuable platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and use your website to steal information from online users. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• Protect Your WP Blogs From Hackers With Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

If you are using outdated WordPress versions make sure you make a full site backup 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 files manually, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Back Up, Copy & Protect Your WP Websites And Blogs With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

Article References

The above statistics were referenced from various 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 issues 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 web site please see other posts we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles are published.

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