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

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

(WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs worldwide, making it a frequent target for hacker attacks)

In March 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered 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 WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to ask if WordPress really is a safe software for running their sites.

Being the world’s most popular content management system makes WordPress a target for hacking. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as 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 at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at 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 the situation 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 your website has been built with!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but when before someone will attempt to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

”Isn’t Open Source Software Unsafe?”

Some people will often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running a business online because it’s “open source” and freely available software application.

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 WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can access the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain the code and study every single line in great detail, searching for security weaknesses in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but when before your website is targeted by malicious hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

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

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

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

WordPress evolves because of the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from thousands of minds who, at any one time, are focused on improving the application and making it safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by an open community of volunteers. Screenshot image: make.wordpress.org)

The moment any security issues are identified by developers or users, the WordPress developers are then made aware of it …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anybody can help contribute to the improvement of the platform.

For example:

• If you notice bugs and security vulnerabilities, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a 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 WordPress site frequently up-to-date …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to address security holes)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an ”open” 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” CMS application would normally be built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, maintenance services, 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 technology. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a completely free CMS platform that you can download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in each of these platforms during a certain period …

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

Other studies also indicate that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and update, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites run on WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

(WordPress is more secure than other leading CMS platforms. Source: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame WordPress When Things Go Wrong

When WordPress sites get attacked en masse, users shouldn’t be too quick to place the blame on WordPress.

According to security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, many webmasters have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their websites had been hacked after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security issues seem to be related to users running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many WordPress users have not updated their WordPress software. Image: 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 CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image source: WebDesign.org)

Like many software applications, WordPress is regularly updated to address new security issues that could arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation about WordPress security 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” 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 websites, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting WordPress Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in WordPress security point to factors such as:

• No platform is protected from hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The main threat in all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems require frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting accounts are only as secure as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on the shared server can potentially become vulnerable to hacking also.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) up-to-date, there is really no reason not to choose WordPress.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  WordPress Brute Force Attack Prevention Measures

A vulnerable site provides hackers with a valuable platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and use your website to steal information from online users. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin – Make Your Website Hidden To Bots And Hackers

If you are currently using an older version of WordPress make sure you make a full site backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Backup, Copy & Keep Your WP Web Site Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References Used In This Article

The statistics quoted above were referenced from various sources, including those listed 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 business results online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website or blog please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

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