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

These attacks were caused by botnets (networks of infected computers programmed to attack other installations with security vulnerabilities).

(WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system making it a target for attempted attacks by hackers)

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

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot: 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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever worldwide attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to ask if WordPress really is a secure platform for building and running their sites.

Powering millions of sites worldwide makes WordPress a target for malicious attempts 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 consider using WordPress if you have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with 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 it’s 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 you use!

Since it’s no longer 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?

How Secure Is “Open Source” Software?

Some people will often try to argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites or blogs because it is a freely available open source software program.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily download the code and go through it, searching for vulnerabilities that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before a malicious user will attempt to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is a free program and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for security vulnerabilities or weaknesses (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open application actually makes it more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a huge community of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a large community of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the software platform maintained and updated. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from hundreds of minds who are dedicated to improving the code, identifying and fixing security holes and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by an open community of WordPress users. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as a security vulnerability is identified by developers or users, these are normally logged in user forums and addressed by the WordPress development team …

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

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

For example:

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

This is why the WordPress community releases new security updates regularly, and why you need to keep your sites and blogs updated and maintained …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to plug security exploits)

WordPress Vs Proprietary Platforms

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

The WordPress CMS is 100% free to download, use and modify, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the software. Can a proprietary CMS 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 CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities found in each of these open source CMS platforms …

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

Other research indicates that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to maintain, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, WordPress sites had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

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

WordPress Is Not To Blame

When WordPress sites are attacked, users shouldn’t be quick to place the blame on WordPress.

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, a large number of webmasters have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with security compromises.

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

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to site owners forgetting to upgrade their WordPress software to the latest version …

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

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 20% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WordPress Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust software platforms, WordPress is regularly updated to deal with new security threats that may arise. Improving software 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 … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even caused Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime into the online discussion.

In a blog post entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” published 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, including banks, leading brands and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers.

Other Issues Affecting Website Security

Other areas that can affect WordPress security include:

• No platform is completely immune to hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The main security weakness in all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security processes need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting are only as safe as the least secure site on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on the server are potentially vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their technology platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) up-to-date, there is really 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

An unsecured blog presents malicious users with a platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to botnets and hackers. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Botnets & Hackers From Finding And Attacking Your Blogs

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress 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 your website to its former configuration.

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

References

For more information on the above, see the following sources:

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

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