In early 2013 a global brute force attack struck WordPress installations across almost every web host in existence around the world.

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

(Powering millions of websites worldwide makes WordPress a target for malicious attacks by hackers)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 160,000+ WordPress web sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)

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

When global brute force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to start asking if WordPress really is a safe application for running their sites.

WordPress is the world’s most used CMS which makes it a target for hacking attacks. But do you really need to 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 consider choosing WordPress if you have any concerns 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 this is getting worse.

You can safely 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 your website has been built with!

Since it’s no longer 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?

How Secure Is “Open Source” Software?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites or blogs because it’s an “open source” and freely available software application.

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

The argument against WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can study the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download all of the code and go through every single line, searching for security holes that they could exploit …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before your website is targeted by malicious hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

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

This is because WordPress is supported by a global community of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the program and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, an open community of volunteers worldwide is responsible for keeping the core application up-to-date. Source: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves largely through the effort of thousands of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from hundreds of minds committed to improving the code, identifying and fixing security holes and making WordPress safer for every user …

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

As soon as security issues are discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core development team are then made aware of it …

(WordPress is continually being improved by an open community of web developers and users. Image source: WordPress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is solid and formidable and anybody can help contribute to the process of addressing security issues.

For example:

• If you find bugs or a security exploit, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a plugin, you can also report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

This is one of the reasons why the core development team releases new security updates regularly, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs frequently updated …

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

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast the benefits of using an open source CMS platform like WordPress with proprietary technologies where often a small team with limited time and resources is responsible for monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly understand the security benefits of using WordPress to run your business web presence on a secure platform.

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

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, 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 the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in each of these CMS platforms …

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

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

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

WordPress Is Not At Fault

Whenever WordPress sites are attacked, you shouldn’t be quick to blame 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 threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly 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 websites were compromised after an attack …

(Many webmasters don’t even know how their sites were hacked. Source: StopBadware.org)

Of immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that many security-related problems arise from site owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …

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

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only between 25% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while 65% – 75% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions …

(WP Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

Like many web platforms, WordPress is regularly updated in order to address new security risks that may arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress software, plugins, themes, etc..

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation online about how secure WordPress is has even led the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime in and reply to posts online.

In an article 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 websites, including banks, large organizations, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Issues Affecting Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in WordPress security point to areas such as:

• No platform is safe from hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to outdated software.
• The biggest security risk of all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security processes require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting are only as safe 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 that server is potentially vulnerable to being hacked as well.

There Is No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Use WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you implement basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) regularly updated, there’s really no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to drive 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:  Preventing WordPress Brute-Force Attacks

A vulnerable website offers hackers with a platform for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Websites makes your WordPress site invisible to botnets and hackers. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Prevent Botnets And Hackers From Finding And Attacking Your Blogs With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are currently using an older WordPress version remember to make a complete backup before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Backup, Clone And Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

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 information 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 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.

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