In early 2013 a worldwide brute force attack struck WordPress installations across almost every WP host server in existence.

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

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

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

(Over 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 WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to start questioning if WordPress really is a safe software for building and running an online presence.

Powering millions of websites and blogs around the world makes WordPress an obvious target for malicious attacks by hackers. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as being a secure web platform?

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

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start by looking at 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 the situation is only going to get worse.

It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 not a matter of if, but when before your website will be targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Is “Open Source” Safe From Hacking?

Some people argue that WordPress should not be used for running a website or blog because it’s “open source” and freely available software program.

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

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

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

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

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

(A community of hundreds of developers worldwide maintain and update. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of a huge volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from hundreds of minds who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software, identifying and fixing security issues and making WordPress safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a large community of volunteer members. Image source: WordPress.org)

The moment that a security problem is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core developers are then notified …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anyone can help contribute to the process of addressing vulnerabilities.

For example:

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

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

(WordPress continually releases new updates to plug security vulnerabilities)

WordPress Vs Proprietary Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary platforms where often a smaller team with limited time and resources is responsible for monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to run your business presence online 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 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 CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, there is valid research showing that the WordPress CMS is actually safer than other leading Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular platforms during a certain period …

(WordPress experiences less security vulnerabilities than other CMS platforms. Screenshot: National Vulnerability Database)

Other research indicates 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 fewer exposure to risk …

(WordPress is more secure than other leading CMS applications. Source: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Platform

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

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

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

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

Of immediate concern for WordPress users, is the fact that most security-related problems arise from website owners not upgrading their WordPress software to a newer version …

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

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 30% 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 created by third-party developers …

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

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

WordPress Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank Using It!

The amount of misinformation about WordPress security has even caused Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime into the online debate.

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, global corporations and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their websites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect Site Security

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

• No platform is safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to outdated software.
• The main security threat of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security systems need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least secure website on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on the server can potentially become vulnerable to being hacked also.

There’s No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is a secure web platform. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) up-to-date, there is no reason not to use WordPress for your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Tips

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

An unsecured web site provides hackers with a platform for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and botnets. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Malicious Cyber-Attacks On Your WordPress Blogs By Hackers With Blog Defender

If you are using outdated WordPress versions make sure you make a backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore everything to its previous configuration.

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 automate your site backups here: Backup, Clone & Protect Your WP Website With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References

The statistics quoted in this article 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, the above post has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better business results online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website please click on links to visit other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles are published.

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