In 2013 a worldwide brute force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every WP host server in existence.

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

(Being the world’s most popular content management system makes WordPress an obvious target for hacker attacks)

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

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot: BlogDefender site)

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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When attacks on WordPress sites happen, it’s natural for website owners to question just how secure WordPress is as a platform for running their websites.

WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs around the world, making it a frequent target for malicious attempts by hackers. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

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 by looking at 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 rising, and the situation is 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 no longer a matter of if, but when before a malicious user will attempt to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Are “Open Source” Software Programs Safe?

Some people will often try and argue that WordPress is not a safe platform for running a website or blog because it’s a freely available open source software.

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

The argument, then, goes something like this: If everyone can view the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of all of the code and go through all of it in detail, looking for security weaknesses in the code that can be exploited …

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

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

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

(With WordPress, a community of developers around the world is responsible for keeping the code up-to-date. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of individuals dedicated to improving the software, identifying and fixing security issues and making WordPress safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a global community of web developers. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security issue is identified by developers or users, the WordPress development team are then made aware of it …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anyone can help contribute to the process of addressing vulnerabilities.

For example:

• If you discover bugs and a security weakness, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a plugin, you can report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why the WordPress team is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site frequently updated …

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS platforms where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly realize the value of using WordPress to power your web presence on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, modify and use, and hundreds 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 users software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular open source platforms during a given period …

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

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

(BlogDefender.com – CMS Tests. Image: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame WordPress When Things Go Wrong

If someone compromises the security of your WordPress site, don’t be quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, most website owners are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with compromises.

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

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

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

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

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage 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 …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust web applications, WordPress is updated regularly in order to address new security issues that may arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

The amount of misinformation about how secure WordPress is has even led Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime into the debate.

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, global corporations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers.

Other Factors That Can Affect WP Security

Other factors that can affect security include:

• No platform is safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to software that is out of date.
• The main security vulnerability of all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Webhosting setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least safe site on the grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site broken into, then every site on the shared server is potentially vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses of all sizes to build their presence online. As long as you implement basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) updated, there’s really no reason to avoid using WordPress.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  How To Help Prevent Brute Force Attacks On WordPress

A compromised blog provides malicious users with a valuable resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and bots. Learn more about this plugin here:

• How To Prevent Malicious Cyberattacks On Your WordPress Website By Hackers & Botnets With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are currently using an outdated version of WordPress make sure to back up everything before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

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

Article References

For more information on the above, refer to the sites below:

• ITProPortal.com
• National Vulnerability Database
• BlogDefender.com
• UpAndUpStudios.com
• StopBadware.org
• Sucuri.net
• WebDesign.org
• Quora.com
• Ma.tt

Hopefully, this post has given you 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 or blog please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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