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

These attacks were caused by botnets (computers infected with malware and programmed to attack other sites with security vulnerabilities).

(Being the world’s most used content management system makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking attacks)

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

(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)

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

When attacks on WordPress sites increase in frequency, it’s natural for people to start questioning just how safe and secure WordPress is as a software for building and running websites.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers, due to its popularity. But should you be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business website?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s getting worse.

It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!

Since it’s not a matter of if, but when before a malicious user will attempt to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Software Secure?

Some people argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running a business online because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software program works.

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

The argument, then, goes something like this: If everyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and go through it in great detail, searching for security weaknesses in the code that can be exploited …

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

While it’s true that WordPress is a free program and hackers can easily go through the code looking for security weaknesses or vulnerabilities they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open application actually makes it a lot more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a large community of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a community of hundreds of volunteers around the world is responsible for keeping the platform code updated. Image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of individuals who are dedicated to improving the application, fixing bugs and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by an open community of WordPress users. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

The moment any security issues are identified by developers or users, the WordPress development team are then made aware of it …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anybody can help contribute to the process of addressing security issues.

For example:

• If you come across bugs and security exploits, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why the core development team is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you need to keep your sites and blogs regularly up-to-date …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to plug security holes)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an open source technology 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 normally built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, software maintenance, bug fixes and software fixes.

The WordPress CMS is 100% free to download, use and modify, and thousands 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 a free platform that they can 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 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 each of these open source CMS platforms …

(WordPress experiences less security vulnerabilities than other leading CMS applications. Source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies indicate that, because WordPress is easy to use and to keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, WordPress sites had fewer exposure to risk …

(WordPress users are less exposed to threats than other CMS platform users. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Easier To Blame Technology When Things Go Wrong

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

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is 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 security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with compromises.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t even know how their websites were hacked after an attack …

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

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

(Many WordPress sites are running on outdated versions. Screenshot: 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 found in the WordPress CMS core, while 70% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

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

Like many modern web applications, WordPress is updated regularly to address new security problems that can 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 – Even Banks Are Using It!

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

Other Areas That Can Affect Security

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

• No platform is safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The main vulnerability of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security systems require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting accounts are only as safe as the least safe site on the grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on your shared server can potentially become vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Use WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there’s no reason not to choose WordPress.

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 website offers hackers with a platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Secure Your WP Blogs From Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress make sure you back up your site before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore your web site or blog to its former configuration.

If you don’t want to back up your files manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Duplicate And Keep Your WordPress Websites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

References

The above facts 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 post has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please see other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

***