In April 2013 a worldwide brute force attack hit WordPress installations across almost every web host in existence.

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

(Powering millions of websites worldwide makes WordPress a target for hacking attempts)

In March 2014, many leading technology sites began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Screenshot 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 web sites 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 website owners to start questioning if WordPress really is a safe application for running websites.

Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for attempted hacking attacks. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should use WordPress if you are 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 around the world is rising, and things are only going to get worse.

You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 will attempt to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Safe?

Many people argue that WordPress should not be used for running web sites because it’s “open source” and freely available software application.

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

The argument, then, goes something like this: If everyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of all of the code and go through all of it in detail, looking for vulnerabilities that they can exploit …

(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 to download and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for security holes and vulnerabilities they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in a number of ways.

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

(With WordPress, a huge community of web developers is responsible for keeping the software code up-to-date. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of minds who, at any one time, are focused on improving the application and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by an open community of contributors. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

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

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

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

For example:

• If you come across bugs or a security hole, you can report these by emailing 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 core development team releases new updates regularly, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site regularly updated …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an ”open” platform like WordPress is that users benefit from a large community of developers who continually contribute to make the code more secure. By contrast, a proprietary or “closed-source” software application would normally be developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, maintenance services, bug fixes and updates.

The WordPress CMS is 100% 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 software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, research shows that WordPress is actually 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 platforms during a certain period …

(WordPress has fewer security vulnerabilities than other leading CMS platforms. Screenshot source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other research shows that, because WordPress is easy to use and update, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites run on WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

(WordPress users are less exposed to security vulnerabilities than other CMS platform users. Source: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Easier To Blame Technology When Things Go Wrong

When WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, don’t be too quick to place the blame on WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, a large number of webmasters have no idea about the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with compromises.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their websites had been hacked after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that most security-related problems arise from site owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Image 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 third-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 …

(WP Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

Like many software applications, WordPress is regularly updated to address new security risks that may arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress software, plugins, themes, etc..

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

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 an article 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 use WordPress to build their websites, including banks, large organizations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas Affecting Security

Other areas that can affect WP site security include factors like:

• No platform is completely protected from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The biggest security weakness in all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes need frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as secure as the least safe site on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on that server can potentially become vulnerable to hacking also.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, 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 (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) updated, there is no reason not to use WordPress.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

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

A vulnerable web site provides malicious users with a resource to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers. Go here to learn more:

• How To Make Your Site Hidden To Bots & Hackers With Blog Defender

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress remember to back up your WordPress website fully 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 back up your files manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Backup, Duplicate And Keep Your WP Sites Protected With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

References

The facts 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 web site and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

***