In April 2013 a global brute-force attack began hitting WordPress installations across almost every WP hosting server in existence.

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

(Powering millions of websites around the world makes WordPress an obvious target for hackers)

In March 2014, many leading technology sites reported that 162,000 legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Screenshot image: Blog Defender)

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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever attacks on WordPress sites take place on a global scale, it’s natural for website owners to question just how safe and secure WordPress is as a software for building and running an online presence.

Powering millions of sites worldwide makes WordPress a target for malicious attacks by hackers. But do you really need to 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 are concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at 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 massive, and it’s getting worse.

It’s probably 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 your website has been built with!

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

Is “Open Source” Safe?

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

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can examine the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain the code and study every single line, searching for weaknesses and vulnerabilities that could be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before someone attempts to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

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

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a community of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a huge volunteer community of hundreds of web developers is responsible for keeping the code maintained and updated. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves largely through the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software, identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by an open community of users. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

The moment that a security problem is discovered by developers or users, these are normally noted in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anybody can contribute to the process of getting vulnerabilities plugged.

For example:

• If you notice bugs or security vulnerabilities, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WordPress plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why the WordPress community is constantly releasing new version updates, and why you continually need to keep your site regularly up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to plug any security weaknesses found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Applications

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an ”open” platform like WordPress is that users benefit from a large community of developers who continually contribute to improve software security. By contrast, a proprietary or “closed-source” CMS application is built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, software maintenance, bug fixes and updates.

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

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in each of these open source platforms during a given period …

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

Other research indicates that, because WordPress is easy to use and to maintain, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, WordPress sites had fewer exposure to risk …

(WordPress users are not as exposed to risks as other CMS platform users. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Platform

When WordPress sites are subjected to brute-force attacks, don’t be too quick to blame WordPress.

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

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

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

Of immediate concern, however, is the fact that many security problems seem to be related to site owners simply not updating their CMS software to the latest version …

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

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot image: WebDesign.org)

Like many software platforms, WordPress is updated regularly in order to address new security issues that could arise. Improving software security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, plugins, and themes up-to-date.

WordPress … Good Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation online about how secure WordPress is 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” published 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, including banks, large organizations and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect WP Security

Other factors that can affect website security include things such as:

• No platform is safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to outdated software.
• The main security vulnerability in all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared hosting servers are only as safe as the least secure site on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on the shared server is potentially vulnerable to hacking also.

There’s No Reason Why You Should Not Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most of the 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 no reason why you should not choose WordPress to drive your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Tips

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

A compromised blog presents hackers with a resource for distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and bots. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Secure Your WordPress Blogs From Hackers And Botnets With Blog Defender

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress make sure you back up your site fully before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore your website to its previous configuration.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Duplicate & Protect Your WordPress Sites With Backup Creator WP Plugin

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, this post has given you 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 please see our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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