In 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to global-scale brute force attacks.

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

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

In March 2014, many leading technology sites reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 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)

According to 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.

When global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to start questioning just how secure the WordPress platform is for running an online presence.

WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers, due to its popularity. But should you be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business web presence?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely choose 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 sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s getting worse.

It’s 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 your website has been built with!

Since it’s not 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?

The “Open Source” Software Argument

Many people will often argue that WordPress should not be used for running a business online because its “open source” code is freely available.

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

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

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

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

(A global community of hundreds of developers build, maintain and update. Screenshot image: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of thousands of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the application and making WordPress safer for every user …

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

As soon as any security issue is discovered by developers or users, these are normally reported in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core development team …

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

The WordPress community support system is quite formidable and anybody can help contribute to the process of addressing vulnerabilities.

For example:

• If you discover bugs and security vulnerabilities, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why the WordPress team is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs frequently updated …

(WordPress continually releases new updates to address security vulnerabilities)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms

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

WordPress is free to download, use and modify, 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 you software that is 100% free to download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Applications

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, research shows 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 discovered in each of these CMS platforms …

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

Other studies indicate that, because WordPress is easy to use and to update, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had less exposure to risk …

(WordPress is safer to use than other CMS platforms. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame WordPress When Things Go Wrong

If someone hacks into your WordPress site, don’t be quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, a large number of webmasters are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

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

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

Of more immediate concern is the fact that many security-related problems arise from website owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WP sites. Screenshot 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 actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

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

Like all robust software applications, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security threats that can arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

WordPress Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank Using It!

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

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, including banks, leading brands and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their websites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors That Can Affect Website Security

Other studies on issues that affect WordPress security point to factors such as:

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

There’s No Reason Not To Use 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 remember to implement basic security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there’s really no reason to avoid using WordPress to power your web site or blog.

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

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

• How To Prevent Malicious Cyber Attacks On Your WordPress Blog From Hackers And Bots

If you are currently using an older version of WordPress make sure to back up your website before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their former configuration.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Backup, Copy And Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

References

The facts quoted above 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, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you expand your business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business web site please click on links to visit other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

***