In 2013 a global brute force attack struck WordPress installations on almost every host server in existence.

These attacks were caused by botnets (computer networks infected with malware and programmed to attack other sites with security vulnerabilities).

(WordPress powers millions of sites worldwide, which makes it an obvious target for attempted attacks by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

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 well-known 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 increase in frequency, it’s natural for website owners to ask just how safe and secure the WordPress platform is for building and running a business web presence.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as a secure web platform?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at some facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is 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 your website has been built with!

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

Is “Open Source” Secure?

Some people will often try and argue that WordPress should not be used for running web sites because it is a freely available open source application.

Open source CMS programs like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone has access to the underlying code.

The argument, then, goes something like this: If anyone can study the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download the code and study every single line in great detail, searching for vulnerabilities that can be exploited …

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

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily go through the code searching for security weaknesses or vulnerabilities that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in several ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by an open community of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(WordPress is built, maintained and updated by a community of thousands of developers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves largely through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who are dedicated to improving the code, identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by a large community of web developers. Image: make.wordpress.org)

The moment that a security hole is discovered by developers or users, these are recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core development team …

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by an open community of users and developers. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anybody can help contribute to the process of getting bugs fixed.

For example:

• If you come across bugs or security vulnerabilities, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WordPress plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

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

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary CMS technologies where often the responsibility for maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a small team of developers with limited resources and you will very quickly understand the security benefits of using WordPress to power your business presence online on a secure platform.

WordPress is 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 a completely free CMS platform that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, there is valid research to support the fact that the WordPress CMS is safer than other Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities found in each of these open source CMS platforms …

(WordPress experiences less security vulnerabilities than other CMS applications. Source: National Vulnerability Database)

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

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

It’s Easier To Blame Technology When Things Go Wrong

If someone breaks into your WordPress site, don’t be too 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 security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises, many webmasters have no idea about the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with web security compromises.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their websites had been compromised by hackers 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-related issues come from site owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Screenshot: 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 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

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

Like many web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security threats that may arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even caused 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” posted 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 use WordPress to build their web presence, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors That Can Affect Website Security

Other areas that can affect blog security include:

• 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 main security vulnerability in all CMS 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 frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting 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 the server can potentially become vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their technology platform) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there is really no reason not to choose WordPress for your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

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

A vulnerable website provides hackers with a valuable platform for distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and botnets. Go here to learn more:

• Secure Your WordPress Blog From Botnets And Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin

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

If you don’t want to back up your files manually, there are many free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Backup, Copy And Keep Your WP Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

References Used In This Article

The statistics quoted above were sourced from the following sites:

• 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 the security benefits of using WordPress for a business website please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles are published.

***