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

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

(WordPress is frequently the target of malicious attempts by hackers, due to its global popularity)

On March 11, 2014, many technology sites began reporting that 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot 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)

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

Whenever worldwide attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to ask just how safe and secure the WordPress platform is for building and running websites.

Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress a target for 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 choose WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, 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 only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform you use!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but when before someone attempts to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Are “Open Source” Software Programs Secure?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites or blogs because it is a freely available open source software application.

Open source CMS software like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can view 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 download all of the code and study it, searching for weaknesses and vulnerabilities that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before someone will attempt to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

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

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

(With WordPress, a community of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the software platform maintained and updated. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who are dedicated to improving the code and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a global community of volunteers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security hole is identified by developers or users, the WordPress development team are then made aware of it …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anyone can contribute to the process of addressing vulnerabilities.

For example:

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

This is why WordPress is constantly releasing new updates, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs up-to-date …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to plug any security weaknesses found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary technologies where often a small team with limited time and resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the value of using WordPress to run your websites and blogs on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is free to download, modify and use, and hundreds 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 you a completely free application that you can download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, research shows that the WordPress CMS is safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities found in popular platforms during a given period …

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

Other research indicates that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep updated, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites built with WordPress had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame The WordPress CMS

If someone compromises the security of your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to blame WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch, a large number of webmasters are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with security compromises.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t even know how their sites had been compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that many security issues seem to be related to users forgetting to upgrade their WordPress software to the latest version …

(Many WordPress sites are running on outdated versions. Screenshot source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage 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 extensions created by third-party developers …

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

Like many modern web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security threats that can arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

WordPress … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation about WordPress security has even led the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, 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 …

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 websites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors That Can Affect Security

Other factors that can affect security include:

• No platform is immune to hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to software that is out of date.
• The biggest threat in all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems require regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting accounts are only as secure as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on that server become vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there’s really no reason to avoid using WordPress.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  Ten Ways To Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On WordPress

A compromised blog presents malicious users with a resource to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Web Sites makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and botnets. Learn more about it here:

• Secure Your WordPress Site From Hackers & Bots

If you are currently using an outdated version of WordPress remember to back up your website fully before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.

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

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 post has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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