In 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack struck WordPress installations on virtually every WP host server in existence.

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

(WordPress powers millions of sites around the world, making it a frequent target for hackers)

On March 11, 2014, many leading technology sites reported that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Screenshot source: 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When worldwide brute force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to start asking just how secure the WordPress platform is for running a business web presence.

WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers. But should you be concerned about WordPress as a secure web platform?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should 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 attacked every year … not just WordPress sites!

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and things are getting worse.

You can safely assume that if you haven’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 you use!

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

”How Can Open Source Software Applications Prevent Hacking?”

Many people argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running websites because it is a freely available open source software program.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download the code and go through every line, searching for security holes in the code 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 go through the code searching for security vulnerabilities or weaknesses that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a large volunteer community 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 …

(With WordPress, an open volunteer community of thousands of developers is responsible for keeping the software code maintained and updated. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves because of the effort of a global volunteer community working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from hundreds of minds dedicated to improving the application, identifying and fixing security holes and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(WordPress is built by a large community of web developers. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as any security vulnerabilities are discovered by developers or users, these are logged in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core developers …

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

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

For example:

• If you find bugs or a security issue, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why the WordPress community releases new updates on a regular basis, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site regularly updated …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to address any security holes found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms

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 make the code more secure. By contrast, a proprietary or “closed-source” CMS platform would normally be built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, support, bug fixes and software fixes.

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

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management applications, there is valid research to support the fact that WordPress is safer than other Open Source CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla.

For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular CMS platforms …

(WordPress has less security vulnerabilities than other leading CMS applications. Image source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other research shows that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to update, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, WordPress sites had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

(WordPress is safer to use than other leading CMS applications. Image: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame WordPress

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

According to security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, a large number of website owners 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 even know how their sites had been compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that most security-related problems arise from website owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many WordPress sites are running on outdated versions. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while 70% – 75% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

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

Like all robust software applications, WordPress is updated regularly to address new security risks that could arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation 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 post 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 choose WordPress to build their websites, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Factors Affecting Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in WordPress security point to things like:

• 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 software that is out of date.
• The biggest security weakness of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security systems need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Webhosting setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as secure 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 your shared server becomes vulnerable to being hacked as well.

There Is No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there is really no reason not to use WordPress.

WordPress Security – 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 web site presents malicious users with a platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Learn more about this plugin here:

• How To Prevent Malicious Intrusions On Your WP Website By Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are using outdated WordPress versions make sure to back up everything 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.

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, 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: Backup, Clone And Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator WP 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, the above post has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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