In early 2013 a global brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every WP hosting server in existence.

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

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

On March 11, 2014, technology sites began reporting that 160,000+ legitimate WordPress web sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Source: BlogDefender site)

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 sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When attacks on WordPress sites happen on a worldwide scale, it’s natural for people to start questioning just how secure WordPress is as a software for building and running an online presence.

WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers. But should you be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business presence online?

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 and blogs are hacked every year … not just WordPress sites!

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and this is only going to get 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 not a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website will be targeted by malicious hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

The “Open Source” Argument

Some people will often try to argue that WordPress is not a secure platform for running websites and blogs because its open source code means that anyone can view how the program code works.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can study the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily download all of the code and go through every single line in detail, looking for security weaknesses that could be exploited …

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

This is because WordPress is supported by a community that consists of hundreds of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(The WordPress platform is built, maintained and updated by a huge community of volunteers. Source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who are dedicated to improving the software and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a large community of WordPress users. Source: make.wordpress.org)

The moment any security holes are identified by developers or users, the WordPress core developers are then made aware of it …

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

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

For example:

• If you discover bugs and a security vulnerability, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why the core development team is constantly releasing new updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs regularly updated …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to address security vulnerabilities)

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

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

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

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

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

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

(WordPress is safer to use than other CMS applications. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)

The WordPress CMS Is Not To Blame

Whenever WordPress sites get attacked, users shouldn’t be quick to blame WordPress.

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

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t even know how their sites were compromised after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that most security-related issues result from site owners forgetting to upgrade their CMS software to the latest version …

(Many WordPress sites use outdated versions. Screenshot source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

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

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

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 into the debate.

In an article 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 websites, including banks, large organizations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors That Can Affect Site Security

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

• No platform is completely 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 security risk of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as safe as the least secure website on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on your shared server can potentially become vulnerable to being hacked as well.

There Is No Reason Why You Should Not Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there’s no reason not to use WordPress to power your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Tips

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

A compromised site offers hackers with a resource for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers. Go here to learn more:

• How To Protect Your WP Web Sites From Hackers

If you are currently using an outdated WordPress version remember to back up your website fully before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their former state.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Back Up, Clone & Protect Your WP Sites With Backup Creator WP Plugin

Article References

The facts quoted in this article 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 problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about using the WP CMS software please click on links to visit other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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