In April 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to worldwide brute force attacks.

These attacks were caused by computer networks infected with malware and programmed to attack other sites, also commonly known as “botnets”.

(Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress a target for hackers)

In March 2014, technology sites began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress web sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to start questioning just how safe and secure the WordPress platform is for building and running an online presence.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business web presence?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider using WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s 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 you use!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but when before your website is targeted by malicious hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Safe?

Some people will often try to argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites or blogs because it’s an “open source” and freely available software program.

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

The argument, then, goes something like this: If everyone can view the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of the code and go through it in detail, searching for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the code that could be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before your website will be targeted by malicious hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is a free application and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for vulnerabilities or weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software application), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in several ways.

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

(With WordPress, an open community of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the core application updated. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of a global volunteer community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of minds dedicated to improving the code, fixing bugs and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by an open community of volunteer web developers. Image source: WordPress.org)

The moment any security holes are discovered by developers or users, these are normally noted in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …

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

The WordPress community support system is very responsive and anybody can help contribute to the process of getting bugs fixed.

For example:

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

This is the reason why the WordPress community releases new updates so often, and why you need to keep your site frequently updated …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to address security weaknesses)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Compare what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS technologies where often a much smaller team with limited time and resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will quickly understand the security benefits of using WordPress to run your business web presence on a secure platform.

WordPress is 100% free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the platform. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

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

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

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

Other research shows that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, WordPress sites had less exposure to risk …

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

The WordPress CMS Is Not To Blame

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

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, many webmasters are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly 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 websites had been hacked after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to website owners not upgrading their WordPress software to a newer version …

(Many security issues come from sites running an outdated version of WordPress. Source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while 70% – 80% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

(WP Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust web 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 site, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

The amount of misinformation about WordPress security has even caused 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 …

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

Other Areas Affecting Blog Security

Other factors that can affect security include areas like:

• No platform is completely safe 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 weakness in all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as secure as the least secure site on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on your server become vulnerable to being hacked as well.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their chosen web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly updated, there is no reason not to use WordPress to run your website or blog.

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 website offers malicious users with a valuable resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets. Learn more about it here:

• Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

If you are currently using an older WordPress version make sure to back up everything before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. 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 WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Back Up, Copy And Keep Your WP Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

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 problems 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 other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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