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

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

(Being the world’s most used content management system makes WordPress an obvious target for attempted hacking attacks)

On March 11, 2014, many leading technology sites began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress websites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image source: 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)

According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When brute force attacks on WordPress sites happen on a worldwide scale, it’s natural for website owners to start asking if WordPress really is a safe application for building and running an online presence.

Being the world’s most used content management system makes WordPress a target for attempted hacking attacks. But do you really need to 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 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 around the world is rising, and things are getting worse.

It’s safe to assume that if you haven’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 no longer a matter of if, but when before someone will try to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Secure?

Some people will often argue that WordPress should not be used for running a business online because its “open source” code is freely available.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can study the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download the code and study every line, looking for vulnerabilities in the code that can be exploited …

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

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for vulnerabilities or weaknesses that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any software application), the fact that WordPress is a free, open platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in many ways.

This is because WordPress has the support of a large community of hundreds of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help to improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a huge community of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the platform code updated. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves largely through the effort of thousands of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the application, identifying and fixing security holes and making WordPress safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by a large community of volunteers. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

As soon as a security problem is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress development team are then notified …

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

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

For example:

• If you notice bugs and a security hole, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why WordPress releases new version updates regularly, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs frequently up-to-date …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary 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 make the platform more secure. By contrast, a proprietary or “closed-source” CMS application is normally developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, support, bug fixes and updates.

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

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, 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 discovered in each of these platforms during a certain period …

(WordPress has less security vulnerabilities than other CMS applications. Screenshot source: National Vulnerability Database)

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

(WordPress users are not as exposed to security exploits as other CMS platform users. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Technology

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

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“, many webmasters are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their sites were compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

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

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 35% 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 for WordPress …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot image: WebDesign.org)

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

WordPress … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation about how secure WordPress is has even led Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime in and reply to posts online.

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

Other Issues Affecting Site Security

Other research on issues that affect website security point to areas such as:

• No platform is completely 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 main security risk of all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting accounts are only as safe as the least secure website on the hosting grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site broken into, then every site on your shared server becomes vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly updated, there is really no reason not to choose WordPress.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

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

A vulnerable website provides malicious users with a platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and use your website to defraud others. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Blogs makes your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Prevent Malicious Cyber Attacks On Your WP Websites From Hackers

If you are using older WordPress versions remember to make a complete backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore your site to its previous state.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Backup, Copy And Keep Your WordPress Websites Protected With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

Article 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 issues that can affect your web site 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 published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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