In 2013 a worldwide brute force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every WP hosting server in existence around the world.

These attacks were caused by computers infected with malware and programmed to attack other vulnerable installations, also commonly known as “botnets”.

(Powering millions of sites worldwide makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking)

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

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot: 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

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

WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers. But should you be concerned about WordPress as a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider using 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 attacked every year … not just WordPress sites!

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and things are getting worse.

It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’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 a matter of when before someone will try to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Are “Open Source” Programs Really Safe?

Some people often argue that WordPress cannot be a safe platform for running web sites because its open source code means that anyone can view how the software runs.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain all of the code and go through every single line, searching for weaknesses and vulnerabilities that could be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but when before someone will attempt 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 weaknesses or vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in several ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a global community that consists of thousands of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, an open community of volunteers around the world is responsible for keeping the software platform updated. Source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of individuals dedicated to improving the software, fixing bugs and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by an open community of users. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

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

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

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anyone can help contribute to the process of fixing security issues.

For example:

• If you come across bugs or security issues, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WP plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why the WordPress community releases new security updates regularly, and why you need to keep your WordPress site frequently updated …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to address any security exploits found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS platforms where often a smaller team with limited resources is responsible for monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to run your websites and blogs on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is 100% free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the platform. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users a free CMS application that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, there is valid research showing that WordPress is safer than other leading 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 open source platforms during a certain period …

(WordPress has less security vulnerabilities than other CMS applications. Image source: National Vulnerability Database)

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

(WordPress users are less exposed to vulnerabilities than other CMS platform users. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)

The WordPress CMS Is Not To Blame

When WordPress sites get attacked en masse, don’t be 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, many website owners have no idea about the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with compromises.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their websites had been hacked after an attack …

(Many webmasters don’t even know how their sites were hacked. Image source: StopBadware.org)

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security-related issues come from website owners simply not updating their CMS software to the latest version …

(Many WordPress users have not updated their WP software. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while 65% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)

Like many web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to address new security risks that can arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress.

WordPress Is Secure – Even Banks Are Using It!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even caused 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 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 choose WordPress to build their presence online, including banks, global corporations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect WP Security

Other research on issues that affect website security point to things like:

• No platform is completely immune to hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to outdated software.
• The biggest risk of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared hosting servers are only as safe as the least secure site on the hosting grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on that server becomes vulnerable to being hacked also.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you continue to implement basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there is really no reason why you shouldn’t use WordPress for your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Practical Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  Ten Things You Can Do To Prevent Brute Force Attacks On Your WordPress Website

A vulnerable website provides malicious users with a platform 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 botnet and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Hackers And Bots From Attacking Your Websites

If you are currently using an outdated WordPress version make sure to 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 everything to its previous settings.

If you don’t want to back up your files manually, there are a number of free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Copy And Protect Your WordPress Websites And Blogs With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

References Used In This Article

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, now you have 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 web site please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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