In early 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to global-scale brute-force attacks.

These attacks were caused by computer networks infected with viruses and programmed to attack other installations, also commonly known as “botnets”.

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

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

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image source: 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When brute-force attacks on WordPress sites seem to increase, it’s natural for website owners to start questioning if WordPress really is a secure software for running an online presence.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers, due to its global popularity. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business presence online?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider using WordPress if you have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and things are only going to get worse.

It’s probably safe to 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 your website has been built with!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of 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” Secure?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites because its “open source” code is freely available.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download the code and study all of it in detail, searching for security weaknesses in the code that they could exploit …

(It’s not a matter of if, but when before your website is targeted by hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for holes or vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any software application), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in several ways.

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

(A large community of thousands of developers around the world maintain and update. Source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from hundreds of individuals committed to improving the software, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a large community of users. Source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as a security vulnerability is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core developers are then notified …

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by thousands of committed individuals community of web developers and users. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

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

For example:

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

This is why the core development team is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you need to keep your site frequently up-to-date …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to address any security vulnerabilities found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms

Compare what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS technologies where often the responsibility for maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a much smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will very quickly realize the security benefits of using WordPress to run your website or blog on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the platform. Can a proprietary CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users a completely free CMS platform that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source Applications

(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 actually safer than other Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

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

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Applications. Image source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies show that, because WordPress is easy to use and to update, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, WordPress sites had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

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

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

Whenever WordPress sites are attacked en masse, users shouldn’t be quick to place the blame on WordPress.

According to security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, most website owners have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with compromises.

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

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to website owners forgetting to update their CMS software to a newer version …

(Many WordPress sites use outdated versions. Screenshot source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by third-party developers …

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

Like many software platforms, WordPress is regularly updated to address new security vulnerabilities that could 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 software, themes, plugins, etc..

WordPress Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank Using It!

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 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, including banks, global corporations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their websites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues Affecting Website Security

Other areas that can affect website security include:

• No platform is completely safe from hackers. 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 biggest security threat of all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting servers are only as safe as the least safe site on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on that shared server becomes vulnerable to hacking also.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you remember to implement basic website security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there’s really no reason to avoid using WordPress to drive your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical 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 WordPress

An unsecured site offers hackers with a resource for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress make sure to back up everything before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. 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 data manually, there are many free and paid plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Clone And Protect Your WP Site With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

References Used In This Article

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

• ITProPortal.com
• National Vulnerability Database
• BlogDefender.com
• UpAndUpStudios.com
• StopBadware.org
• Sucuri.net
• WebDesign.org
• Quora.com
• Ma.tt

Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business website please click on links to visit other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles are published.

***