In early 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack began hitting WordPress installations on almost every host server in existence.

These attacks were caused by computer networks infected with viruses and programmed to attack other sites, also commonly known as “botnets”.

(WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers)

In March 2014, many leading technology sites reported that 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.

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

Whenever worldwide attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to question if WordPress really is a safe platform for building and running their sites.

Powering millions of websites and blogs worldwide makes WordPress a target for malicious 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 use WordPress if you have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with the 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 increasing on a daily basis, and things are 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 before someone does attempt to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform you use!

Since it’s no longer 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?

Is “Open Source” Software Secure?

Some people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running a business online because it is “open source” and freely available program.

Open-source CMS programs 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 examine the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of all of the code and go through every line, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities that can be exploited …

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

While it’s true that WordPress is a free program and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for weaknesses or vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in many ways.

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

(With WordPress, a large community of web developers is responsible for keeping the software platform maintained and updated. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of minds who, at any one time, are focused on improving the code, identifying and fixing security holes and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a large community of WordPress users. Image: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security issue is discovered by developers or users, these are normally logged in user forums and addressed by the WordPress development team …

(WordPress is continually being improved by thousands of committed individuals community of users and developers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

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

For example:

• If you find bugs or a security vulnerability, you can report these by emailing 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 one of the reasons why the core development team is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress site updated …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary technologies 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 understand the value and advantages of using WordPress to run your site on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is 100% free to download, modify and use, and hundreds 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 - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, there is valid research to support the fact that WordPress 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 CMS platforms …

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

Other research shows that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to maintain, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had less exposure to risk …

(BlogDefender.com – CMS Tests. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Not WordPress’ Fault

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

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch, a large number of 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 security compromises.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their sites were compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern 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 outdated WordPress versions. Image 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 third-party code are actually 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 many software applications, WordPress is regularly updated in order to deal with new security vulnerabilities that can arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank That Uses It!

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

Other Issues That Can Affect Site Security

Other studies on issues that affect website security point to factors like:

• No platform is safe from hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The biggest vulnerability in all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security systems require regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site broken into, then every site on the server is potentially vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Why You Should Not Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) up-to-date, there is really no reason to avoid using WordPress to drive 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:  Ten Security Measures That Can Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On Your WordPress Site

A compromised site provides hackers with a valuable platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Learn more about it here:

• Blog Defender Security Plugin – Make Your Website Unseen By Bots & Hackers

If you are using older versions of WordPress remember to back up your site 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 site manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Back Up, Clone And Protect Your WordPress Web Site With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

Article References

The above facts were sourced from the following sites:

• 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 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 WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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