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

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

(Powering millions of websites and blogs around the world makes WordPress a target for hacking)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites reported that 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.

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

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 attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When brute force attacks on WordPress sites seem to increase, it’s natural for website owners to ask if WordPress really is a safe platform for building and running a business web presence.

Powering millions of websites and blogs around the world makes WordPress a target for malicious attempts by hackers. But should you 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 with the facts …

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

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

It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!

Since it’s not a matter of if, but when before someone tries to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

How Secure Is “Open Source” Software?

Some people will often try to argue that WordPress cannot be a safe platform for running a business online because it’s a freely available open source software program.

Open source CMS programs like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone has access to the software code.

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of the code and study it in detail, looking for security holes in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before your website is targeted by hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for holes or vulnerabilities they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in a number of ways.

This is because WordPress has the support of an open volunteer community consisting 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 volunteer community of web developers is responsible for keeping the core application maintained and updated. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of individuals committed to improving the software, identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a global community of volunteer web developers. Source: WordPress.org)

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

(WordPress is continually being improved by a global community community of web developers and users. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

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

For example:

• If you come across bugs or security holes, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is the reason why WordPress releases new version updates so frequently, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site regularly maintained …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to address any security vulnerabilities found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary platforms where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a much smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly realize the security benefits of using WordPress to run your website or blog on a secure platform.

WordPress is 100% free to download, use and modify, and thousands 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 software that is 100% free to 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 leading Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

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

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

Other studies show that, because WordPress is easy to use and update, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

(BlogDefender.com – CMS Tests. Screenshot source: 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 WordPress.

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

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

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

Of immediate concern is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to users forgetting to upgrade their CMS software to a newer version …

(Many WordPress sites are running on outdated versions. Image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 20% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

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

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

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

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

In an article 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 around the world choose WordPress to build their websites, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues Affecting WordPress Security

Other areas that can affect WordPress security include issues such as:

• No platform is completely safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to outdated software.
• The main vulnerability in all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting accounts are only as safe as the least safe website on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on the shared server becomes vulnerable to being hacked as well.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you remember to implement basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) updated, there is no reason not to choose WordPress to power 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:  Protect Your WordPress Website From Brute Force Attacks

A compromised web site offers hackers with a resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your website to defraud innocent people. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Websites & Blogs makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Learn more about this plugin here:

• How To Prevent Hackers From Finding & Attacking Your Blog With Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Web Sites

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 your website to its previous state.

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

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 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 the WordPress software please click on links to visit other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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