In 2013 a global brute force attack began hitting WordPress installations on virtually every WP host server in existence.

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

(WordPress powers millions of websites around the world, which makes it a frequent target for malicious attacks by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, many leading technology sites reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress 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)

As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When brute-force attacks on WordPress sites take place on a worldwide scale, it’s natural for website owners to start questioning if WordPress really is a secure software for building and running a business web presence.

Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for attempted hacker attacks. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business presence online?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is 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 attempts to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform you use!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website is targeted by malicious hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Are “Open Source” Software Programs Really Safe?

Many people will often try to argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running websites and blogs because its open source code means that anyone can view how the program was built.

Open-source CMS programs like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone has access to the entire 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 obtain all of the code and study every single line, searching for holes and weaknesses that they can exploit …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website is 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 looking for vulnerabilities or weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it more secure in a number of ways.

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

(With WordPress, a community of hundreds of volunteers around the world is responsible for keeping the platform up-to-date. Image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of hundreds of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a large community of users. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

As soon as any security weakness is discovered by developers or users, these are reported 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. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

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

For example:

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

This is why the WordPress community releases new version updates so often, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs frequently updated …

(WordPress frequently releases new updates to plug security issues)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary platforms where often a small team with limited time and resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly understand the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your site on a secure platform.

WordPress is 100% free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the technology. Can a proprietary CMS company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver users a completely free software that they can download, use and modify as they 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, research shows that the WordPress CMS is safer than other Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in each of these CMS platforms …

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

Other research shows that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to keep up-to-date, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites run on WordPress had less exposure to risk …

(Blog Defender – CMS Tests. Source: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Easier To Blame Technology When Things Go Wrong

If someone compromises the security of your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to security vendor Commtouch and StopBadware, a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, most webmasters are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their websites had been compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern is the fact that many security-related issues come from users running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

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

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WP Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust web applications, WordPress is regularly updated in order to address new security threats that could arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even led Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime in and reply to posts online.

In an article 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 WordPress Site Security

Other areas that can affect security include:

• No platform is completely protected from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
• The biggest weakness of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security processes need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Webhosting setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least safe website on the grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on your server can potentially become vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly updated, there is no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to drive your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  WordPress Brute-Force Attack Prevention Measures

An unsecured site offers hackers with a resource to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• How To Make Your WP Web Site Invisible To Hackers & Botnets With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are currently using an older WordPress version remember to make a backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore everything to its previous settings.

If you don’t want to back up your files manually, there are many plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Back Up, Clone And Protect Your WordPress Web Site 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, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better business results online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please see other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new content is published.

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