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

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

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers)

In March 2014, technology sites began reporting that 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

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

Whenever brute-force attacks on WordPress sites attract worldwide attention, it’s natural for people to start asking just how safe and secure the WordPress platform is for running a business web presence.

Being the world’s most used content management system makes WordPress a target for hacker attacks. 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 choose WordPress if you are at all concerned 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 this is only going to get worse.

It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … regardless of the web platform you use!

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

”How Can Open Source Applications Be Kept Safe From Hackers?”

Some people will often argue that WordPress cannot be a secure platform for building and running websites or blogs because its open source code means that anyone can view how the software application was built.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download the code and study every single line in great 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 your website is targeted by hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is a free application and hackers can easily go through the code searching for security holes and weaknesses (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it more secure in several ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a volunteer 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, a large community of developers is responsible for keeping the code up-to-date. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a huge community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from hundreds of minds committed to improving the application, identifying and fixing security issues and making WordPress safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by an open community of users. Source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security weakness is identified by developers or users, these are normally noted in user forums and addressed by the WordPress development team …

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

The WordPress community support system is very responsive and anyone can help contribute to the process of addressing vulnerabilities.

For example:

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

This is one of the reasons why WordPress releases new version updates so often, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs regularly maintained …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to plug security weaknesses)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary platforms where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a much smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your web presence on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, use and modify, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the technology. Can a proprietary CMS 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 Applications

(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, research shows 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 open source platforms during a certain period …

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

Other research shows that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and maintain, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites built with WordPress had less exposure to risk …

(BlogDefender.com – CMS Tests. Image: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Platform

If someone hacks into your WordPress site, 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 a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch, a large number of website owners are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with web security compromises.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their websites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that most security-related problems result from users running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WP software. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only around between 20% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while 70% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

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

Like all robust web applications, WordPress is regularly updated to deal with new security threats that could arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Secure – Even Banks Use It!

The amount of misinformation about WordPress security has even led the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime into the discussion.

In a post 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 around the world use WordPress to build their websites, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting Website Security

Other issues that can affect website security include:

• No platform is completely immune to hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to software that is out of date.
• The main risk of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as safe as the least secure site on the grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on the server can potentially become vulnerable to being hacked also.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Choosing WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses of all sizes to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) updated, there is really no reason why you shouldn’t use WordPress.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  Protect Your WordPress Website From Brute-Force Attacks

A compromised site offers malicious users with a resource for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and botnets. Learn more about it here:

• Secure Your WP Websites From Hackers With Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

If you are using older WordPress versions make sure to back up your website fully before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore everything to its former state.

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

References Used In This Article

The statistics quoted above were referenced from various online 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, now you have 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 using WordPress for a business web site please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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