In 2013 a global brute-force attack struck WordPress installations on almost every web host in existence.

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

(Being the world’s most popular CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for attempted hacker attacks)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites reported that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

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

When global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to question just how safe and secure WordPress is as an application for running an online presence.

Powering millions of websites and blogs around the world makes WordPress a target for hackers. But do you 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 definitely choose WordPress if you have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at facts …

Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked 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.

It’s 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 attempts to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Are “Open Source” Programs Really Safe?

Many people argue that WordPress cannot be a secure platform for running websites and blogs because it is “open source” and freely available 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 WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and study every single line in great detail, looking for security vulnerabilities that can be exploited …

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

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for security holes and vulnerabilities they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open platform actually makes it more secure in several ways.

This is because WordPress is supported by an open community that consists of thousands of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a large volunteer community of web developers is responsible for keeping the platform code maintained and updated. Screenshot image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves largely through the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users dedicated to improving the code, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

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

As soon as any security weaknesses are identified by developers or users, these are normally recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress development team …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anyone can help contribute to fixing the software.

For example:

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

This is the reason why the WordPress community releases new security updates regularly, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs updated …

(WordPress frequently releases new updates to plug security holes)

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

Compare what we have just discussed above with proprietary technologies where often a smaller team with limited resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly understand the value of using WordPress to run your business presence online on a secure platform.

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

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities found in popular open source CMS platforms …

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

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

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

Don’t Blame The WordPress CMS

When WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, you shouldn’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, a large number of website owners are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with compromised web security.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their sites were hacked after an attack …

(Most webmasters don’t even know how their sites were hacked. Screenshot image: StopBadware.org)

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

(Many security issues come from sites running an outdated version of WordPress. Source: 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 extensions …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

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

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

The amount of misinformation online about how secure WordPress is has even led the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, 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 …

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 Issues Affecting WordPress Website Security

Other areas that can affect WP blog security include issues like:

• No platform is protected from hackers. 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 web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security processes need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting are only as secure as the least secure site on the hosting grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then all sites on your server become vulnerable to being hacked as well.

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

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you remember to implement basic security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their technology platform) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there is really no reason why you should not choose WordPress to run your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  10 Security Measures That Can Prevent Brute Force Attacks On Your WordPress Site Or Blog

A compromised site offers malicious users with a platform for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• Make Your Web Site Unseen By Bots & Hackers With Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

If you are using older WordPress versions make sure you back up everything before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Back Up, Clone & Keep Your WP Site 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, the above post 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 please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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