In early 2013 a worldwide brute force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every web host in existence around the world.

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

(Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress a target for attempted hacker attacks)

In March 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image: 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever attacks on WordPress sites attract attention worldwide, it’s natural for website owners to start asking just how safe and secure WordPress is as a software for building and running websites.

Powering millions of websites around the world makes WordPress an obvious target for hacker attacks. But should you be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business website?

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 some facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and this is getting worse.

It’s probably 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 will be targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Software Safe?

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

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

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

(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 free and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for security holes and vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it more secure in many ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a global volunteer community of thousands of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, an open community of developers is responsible for keeping the software platform up-to-date. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves largely through the effort of a global volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of individuals who are dedicated to improving the software and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by a global community of users. Source: WordPress.org)

As soon as a security hole is 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 a huge community community of developers and users. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system is very responsive and anyone can help contribute to the process of fixing 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 WP plugin, you can report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why WordPress is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs updated …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary technologies where often a small team with limited resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the security benefits of using WordPress to power your websites and blogs on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the platform. Can a proprietary CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a completely free platform that you can download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, there is valid research to support the fact 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 discovered in each of these open source platforms during a given period …

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

Other studies also show that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites run on WordPress had significantly less exposure to risk …

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

It’s Not WordPress’ Fault

When WordPress sites are attacked, you shouldn’t be quick to place the blame on 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 security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with compromised web security.

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

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

Of immediate concern, however, is the fact that many security issues seem to be related to website owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WP software. Source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while 70% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

(WP Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

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

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

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

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 around the world choose WordPress to build their presence online, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors That Can Affect WordPress Security

Other areas that can affect blog security include:

• No platform is immune to security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to outdated software.
• The biggest security threat in all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Webhosting setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on your server is potentially vulnerable to hacking as well.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you implement basic web security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there’s really no reason to avoid using WordPress to run your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

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

A vulnerable web site provides hackers with a valuable platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Blog Defender Review – Make Your Website Hidden To Bots & Hackers

If you are using outdated WordPress versions make sure to back up your website fully 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 a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Back Up, Copy And Keep Your WordPress Web Site Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References Used In This Article

The statistics 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, this information has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

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