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

These attacks were caused by botnets (computer networks infected with viruses and programmed to attack other installations with security vulnerabilities).

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers)

In March 2014, many leading technology sites reported that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot image: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When brute-force attacks on WordPress sites take place on a worldwide scale, it’s natural for website owners to question if WordPress really is a safe software for building and running a business web presence.

Being the world’s most used content management system makes WordPress a target for malicious attacks by hackers. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as 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 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 scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and things are only going to get worse.

You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … 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

Many people argue that WordPress is not a secure platform for building and running websites and blogs because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software code works.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and study every single line in detail, searching for security holes in the code that they can exploit …

(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 a free application and hackers can easily go through the code looking for security weaknesses and vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a large community that consists of hundreds of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, the platform is built, maintained and updated by a huge community of hundreds of volunteers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users dedicated to improving the application, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by a large community of WordPress users. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

As soon as any security vulnerability is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress developers are then made aware of it …

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by a global community community of web developers and users. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anyone can contribute to the process of getting vulnerabilities plugged.

For example:

• If you come across bugs or a security issue, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WordPress plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why WordPress is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs regularly updated …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to plug any security weaknesses found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

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

The WordPress CMS 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 you a free CMS platform that you can download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in each of these CMS platforms …

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

Other studies also show that, because WordPress is easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, WordPress sites had significantly less exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame WordPress When Things Go Wrong

When WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, users shouldn’t be too quick to place the blame on WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, 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 web security compromises.

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

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to site owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

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

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

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

Like many software applications, WordPress is regularly updated in order to deal with new security threats that may arise. Improving software security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank Using It!

The amount of misinformation about how secure WordPress is 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” 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 choose WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in website security point to things like:

• No platform is immune to hacking. 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 security threat of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security processes require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared hosting accounts are only as secure as the least safe website on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site broken into, then all sites on your server can potentially become vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Why You Shouldn’t 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’s no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to drive your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

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

A vulnerable web site offers malicious users with a resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• How To Make Your WP Blogs Invisible To Bots And Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin

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

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Backup, Clone And Protect Your WordPress Site With Backup Creator WP Plugin

References Used In This Article

The facts 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, the above article has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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