In April 2013 a global brute force attack began hitting WordPress installations across virtually every web host in existence around the world.

These attacks were caused by computer networks infected with viruses and programmed to attack other computers (called “botnets”).

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

In March 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 162,000 legitimate WordPress websites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot 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.

Whenever brute-force attacks on WordPress sites happen on a worldwide scale, it’s natural for website owners to question if WordPress really is a secure platform for running websites.

WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers. But do you really need to be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business presence online?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider choosing WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and things are only going to get 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 does attempt to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform you use!

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

”How Can Open Source Applications Be Secured?”

Some people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running a web presence because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software runs.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can study the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain the code and go through every single line in detail, searching for holes and weaknesses in the code that can be exploited …

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

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

This is because WordPress is supported by a community comprised of hundreds of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

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

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of a huge volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of minds who are dedicated to improving the application and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

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

As soon as a security hole is discovered by developers or users, these are noted in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core developers …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anybody can contribute to the process of getting bugs fixed.

For example:

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

This is the reason why the core development team releases new version updates on a regular basis, and why you continually need to keep your site updated and maintained …

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

WordPress 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 smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will very quickly realize the value of using WordPress to run your website or blog on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is free to download, use and modify, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the technology. 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 Platforms

(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, there is valid research to support the fact that the WordPress CMS is safer than other 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 certain period …

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

Other research indicates that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep updated, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, WordPress sites had less exposure to risk …

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

Don’t Blame The WordPress CMS

When WordPress sites are subjected to brute-force attacks, you shouldn’t be quick to place the blame on 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 webmasters are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with security compromises.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their websites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security-related problems result from site owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

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

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while 70% – 80% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

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

Like many web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly in order to deal with new security problems that may arise. Improving software security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation online about how secure WordPress is has even caused Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime in and reply to posts online.

In a post 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, including banks, leading brands and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.

Other Issues Affecting Website Security

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

• No platform is completely immune to hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
• The biggest security threat of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security processes need regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least safe site on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on the server become vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you implement basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly updated, there’s really no reason why you should not use WordPress.

WordPress Security – Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  Protecting Your WordPress Website From Brute-Force Attacks

An unsecured website presents hackers with a valuable platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• Blog Defender Review

If you are currently using an outdated WordPress version make sure you make a backup before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore your site to its previous settings.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Backup, Copy & Protect Your WordPress Web Sites With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

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, this information has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about using the WP web content management software please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

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