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

These attacks were caused by computer networks infected with viruses and programmed to attack other vulnerable sites (called “botnets”).

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

In March 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Image source: BlogDefender site)

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 WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When worldwide brute force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to start questioning if WordPress really is a safe application for building and running their websites.

WordPress is frequently the target of malicious attacks by hackers. But should you really 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 use WordPress if you have any concerns 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 sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and it’s getting worse.

It’s probably 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 your website will be targeted by malicious hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Safe From Hacking?

Many people argue that WordPress cannot be a safe platform for running a website or blog because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software program code works.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download all of the code and study it, searching for security vulnerabilities that could be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but 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 searching for security vulnerabilities and weaknesses that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open platform actually makes it a lot more secure in several ways.

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

(An open volunteer community of developers worldwide is responsible for building and updating the WordPress platform. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of a huge community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of individuals who are dedicated to improving the code, identifying and fixing security issues and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a global community of volunteer members. Source: WordPress.org)

The moment that any security vulnerability is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress development team are then made aware of it …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anybody can help contribute to the process of fixing security issues.

For example:

If you discover bugs and a security weakness, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
If you find any issues in a plugin, you can report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why the WordPress community releases new security updates on a regular basis, and why you continually need to keep your site up-to-date …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an ”open” technology like WordPress is that users benefit from a large community of developers who continually contribute to improve platform 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 updates.

WordPress is 100% free to download, use and modify, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve 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 CMS 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 Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in each of these platforms during a given period …

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

Other studies indicate that, because WordPress is easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, WordPress sites had fewer exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame WordPress

If someone hacks 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,” which is published by a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch, 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 compromised web security.

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

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

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

(Many WordPress users have not updated their WP sites. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 30% percent 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 …

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

Like many web applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security problems that could arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress.

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

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

In an article entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” posted 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, including banks, large organizations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.

Other Areas Affecting Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in website security point to areas such as:

No platform is protected from 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 content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security practices.
Lack of constant monitoring. Security processes need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
Webhosting setup. For example, sites on shared hosting accounts are only as secure as the least secure website on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site broken into, then all sites on that server are potentially vulnerable to hacking as well.

There Is No Reason Why You Should Not Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you implement basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) up-to-date, there’s no reason not to use WordPress to drive your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article: Ten Things You Can Do To Help Prevent Brute Force Attacks On Your WordPress Site Or Blog

A vulnerable website provides hackers with a valuable resource to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers. Learn more about it here:

Prevent Malicious Cyber-Attacks On Your WP Websites From Hackers & Botnets

If you are currently using an outdated version of WordPress make sure you back up your WordPress website before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their former settings.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Back Up, Copy And Protect Your WP Websites And Blogs With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

References Used In This Article

For more information on the above, refer to the sites below:

Hopefully, the above article has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business web site please see other posts published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

***

"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)

Tag: Web Security