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

These attacks were caused by infected computer networks programmed to attack other vulnerable installations (called “botnets”).

(Powering millions of sites around the world makes WordPress a target for hacking attempts)

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

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot: 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 WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever brute force attacks on WordPress sites are reported in the media, it’s natural for people to ask if WordPress really is a secure software for running an online presence.

WordPress often is targeted 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 definitely choose WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with the facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and things are getting worse.

It’s 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 when before a malicious user tries to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

How Vulnerable Are “Open Source” Programs?

Some people often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running web sites because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software program works.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of all of the code and study every single line, looking for security holes that could 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 free and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for holes and weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in many ways.

This is because WordPress is supported by a huge community of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(An open community of developers build, maintain and update. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of minds dedicated to improving the code, identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a global community of users. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

The moment any security vulnerabilities are discovered by developers or users, these are logged in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core developers …

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

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anyone can contribute to the process of getting vulnerabilities plugged.

For example:

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

This is why WordPress releases new updates regularly, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site regularly up-to-date …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

Compare what we have just discussed above with proprietary platforms where often a much smaller team with limited time and resources is responsible for monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will quickly understand the value of using WordPress to power your websites and blogs on a secure platform.

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

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, there is valid research showing that WordPress is actually safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular platforms during a certain period …

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

Other studies also show that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites built with WordPress had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

(WordPress is more secure than other CMS applications. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

The WordPress CMS Is Not To Blame

If someone hacks into your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to place the blame on the WordPress CMS platform.

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“, 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 compromised web security.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their sites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern, however, is the fact that many security-related problems come from website owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded 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 actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

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

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

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even led Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime in and reply to posts online.

In an article 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 web presence, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting Security

Other factors that can affect WordPress blog security include things like:

• No platform is immune to hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The main security weakness in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems need constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting accounts are only as safe as the least secure site on the grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site broken into, then every site on your shared server becomes vulnerable to hacking as well.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you remember to implement basic security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there is really no reason why you should not choose WordPress to drive your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  10 Security Measures That Can Help Prevent Brute Force Attacks On Your WordPress Site

An unsecured blog provides malicious users with a resource for distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets. Go here to learn more:

• Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are currently using an outdated version of WordPress remember to back up your WordPress 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 data manually, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Duplicate & Keep Your WordPress Site Protected With Backup Creator WP 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, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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