In 2013 a global brute-force attack hit WordPress installations across virtually every host server in existence around the world.

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

(WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers, due to its global popularity)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress web sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Image: 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 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 website owners to start asking just how secure WordPress is as an application for building and running their sites.

WordPress often comes under attack by hackers, due to its popularity. But should you really 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 use WordPress if you are concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with the facts …

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

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world 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 inevitable that at some point in time someone will attempt 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 will be targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

”How Can Open Source Software Programs Prevent Hacking?”

Some people will often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running websites and blogs because it’s “open source” and freely available program.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can view the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain all of the code and study every line in detail, looking for holes and weaknesses that can be exploited …

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

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

This is because WordPress has the support of a huge volunteer community of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a huge community of hundreds of volunteers around the world is responsible for keeping the software code updated. Screenshot image: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of individuals who are dedicated to improving the application, fixing bugs and making WordPress safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by an open community of experienced web developers. Source: make.wordpress.org)

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

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by a huge community community of web developers and users. Source: make.wordpress.org)

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

For example:

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

This is one of the reasons why WordPress is constantly releasing new updates, and why you need to keep your sites and blogs updated …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary platforms where often the responsibility for maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a small team of developers with limited resources and you will very quickly realize the security benefits of using WordPress to run your business presence online on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, modify and use, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the technology. 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 Vs Other Open Source CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in each of these open source platforms during a certain period …

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

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

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

WordPress Is Not At Fault

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

According to security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, many webmasters have no idea about the 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 compromised after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that many security issues seem to be related to site owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many WordPress sites are running on outdated versions. Screenshot image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 20% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while 70% – 75% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

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

Like many software applications, WordPress is regularly updated in order to address new security problems 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 – Just Ask Any Bank That Uses It!

The amount of misinformation online about how secure WordPress is has even led the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime into the debate.

In a blog post 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 around the world use WordPress to build their presence online, including banks, large organizations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues Affecting Security

Other research on issues that affect website security point to areas such as:

• No platform is completely safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using software that is out of date.
• The main risk in all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting servers are only as safe as the least secure website on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on that server can potentially become vulnerable to hacking also.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Choosing 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 plugins, themes, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there’s no reason to avoid using WordPress.

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 vulnerable site offers hackers with a valuable resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your site to steal information from innocent people. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks. Go here to learn more:

• Protect Your WordPress Blog From Hackers And Bots With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are using older WordPress versions make sure to back up your website fully before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their former settings.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of free and paid plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Back Up, Copy & Keep Your WP Sites Protected With Backup Creator WP Plugin

Article References

The above facts were referenced from various online sources, including those listed below:

• ITProPortal.com
• National Vulnerability Database
• BlogDefender.com
• UpAndUpStudios.com
• StopBadware.org
• Sucuri.net
• WebDesign.org
• Quora.com
• Ma.tt

Hopefully, this post has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please see other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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