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

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

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot: 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 leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to question just how safe and secure WordPress is as a software for running their sites.

WordPress powers millions of websites worldwide, making it a frequent target for attempted 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 definitely choose WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation is 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 a matter of when before your website will be targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

The “Open Source” Software Argument

Some people will often try and argue that WordPress is not a secure platform for running websites because it’s “open source” and freely available software.

Open-source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone has access to the entire 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 easily get hold of the code and go through every line, searching for weaknesses and vulnerabilities they can exploit …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before your website will be targeted by hackers … 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 holes or weaknesses that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software application), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it more secure in several ways.

This is because WordPress is supported by a large community 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 …

(With WordPress, an open community of thousands of web developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the core application updated. Source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a huge volunteer community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users committed to improving the software and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by a global community of experienced web developers. Screenshot image: WordPress.org)

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

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

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anyone can contribute to the process of addressing security issues.

For example:

• If you notice bugs or security vulnerabilities, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why the WordPress team releases new security updates so often, and why you need to keep your sites and blogs regularly updated …

(WordPress frequently releases new updates to address security vulnerabilities)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Compare the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary CMS platforms where often a smaller team with limited resources is responsible for monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your site on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the platform. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a completely free software that you can download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

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 each of these open source CMS platforms …

(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, sites run on WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

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

WordPress Is Not To Blame

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

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, a large number of webmasters are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their sites were hacked after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern is the fact that most security issues seem to be related to site owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many WordPress users have not updated their WordPress software. Image: 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 most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)

Like many modern software platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security issues that may arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

WordPress Is Secure – Even Banks Use 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 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 choose WordPress to build their presence online, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect Security

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

• No platform is immune to hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The biggest security threat of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security recommendations.
• 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 secure website on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on your shared server is potentially vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses of all sizes to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t choose WordPress to run your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Tips

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

A vulnerable web site offers malicious users with a resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your website to defraud online users. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Learn more about it here:

• Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin – Make Your Web Site Hidden To Botnets & Hackers

If you are using older versions of WordPress make sure you make a complete backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of 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 & Keep Your WP Web Site Protected With Backup Creator WP Plugin

References Used In This Article

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, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better business results 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.

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