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

These attacks were caused by botnets (computers infected with malware and programmed to attack other vulnerable computers).

(Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for malicious attempts by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Screenshot: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When brute force attacks on WordPress sites seem to increase, it’s natural for people to ask just how safe and secure WordPress is as a software for running their sites.

WordPress is often the target of attacks by hackers. But should you be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business presence online?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should definitely consider using WordPress if you are at all 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 massive, 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 … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but when before someone will try to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

How Vulnerable Are “Open Source” Software Applications?

Some people will often try and argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites or blogs because it’s a freely available open source software application.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and study every line, looking for security weaknesses that could be exploited …

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

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

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a huge volunteer community that consists of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help to improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(A huge volunteer community of web developers worldwide build, maintain and update. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of a global volunteer community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from thousands of individuals dedicated to improving the code, fixing bugs and making the WordPress platform safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by a global community of volunteers. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as security vulnerabilities are identified by developers or users, the WordPress core developers are then made aware of it …

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

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is very responsive and anybody can help contribute to improving the platform.

For example:

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

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

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS 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 make the platform more secure. By contrast, proprietary or “closed-source” software applications are developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, software maintenance, bug fixes and software fixes.

The WordPress CMS is 100% free to download, use and modify, and hundreds 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 users a completely free CMS application that they can download, use and modify as they wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities found in popular open source platforms during a certain period …

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

Other studies indicate that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

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

It’s Easier To Blame Technology When Things Go Wrong

If someone breaks into your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to place the blame on WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is 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 threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with compromises.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their websites had been compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

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

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 20% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while 70% – 80% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

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

Like all robust software platforms, WordPress is updated regularly in order to deal with new security threats that could arise. Improving software security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even led Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, 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 …

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 web presence, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect Blog Security

Other factors that can affect WP blog security include areas such as:

• No platform is safe from hacking. 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 security weakness of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security systems need regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as safe as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if someone else has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then every site on that server is potentially vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you implement basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there’s no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to power your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Tips

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

A compromised web site offers malicious users with a platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress makes your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Make Your Blog Invisible To Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are currently using an older version of WordPress make sure you back up your website 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 perform manual backups, there are a number of free and paid plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Duplicate & Protect Your WordPress Web Sites With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

Article 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, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about using WordPress please click on links to visit other posts we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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