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

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

(WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers)

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

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

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 leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When attacks on WordPress sites increase in frequency, it’s natural for website owners to ask if WordPress really is a safe software for building and running their websites.

WordPress often is targeted by hackers. But do you really need to 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 use 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 worldwide is rising, and this is getting worse.

You can safely 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 a matter of when before a malicious user will try to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

”Isn’t Open Source Software Extremely Vulnerable?”

Some people will often try to argue that WordPress cannot be a secure platform for building and running a business online because it is “open source” and freely available 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, then, goes something like this: If anyone can view the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain the code and go through it, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities they can exploit …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before a malicious user will try 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 vulnerabilities and weaknesses 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 more secure in many ways.

This is because WordPress is supported by a volunteer community consisting of thousands of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(The WordPress software platform is built, maintained and updated by an open community of thousands of web developers worldwide. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a huge community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the application, fixing bugs and making WordPress safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by a global community of web developers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

The moment any security weaknesses are discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core development team are then notified …

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by a huge community community of users and developers. Image: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anybody can contribute to fixing the platform.

For example:

• If you come across bugs and security holes, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find any issues in a WP plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why WordPress is constantly releasing new version updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress site updated and maintained …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to plug security holes)

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

We’ve just seen that one of the security advantages of using an ”open” 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 typically developed by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, software maintenance, bug fixes and software fixes.

WordPress is free to download, use and modify, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the platform. 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 Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, here is one study showing the number of security vulnerabilities discovered in popular platforms during a given period …

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

Other studies also show that, because WordPress is easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites built with WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

(Blog Defender – CMS Tests. Source: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame WordPress

When WordPress sites get attacked, don’t be too quick to blame WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, many webmasters have no idea about the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with compromised web security.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t know how their sites were compromised after an attack …

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

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

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WP software. Screenshot 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 actually found in the WordPress core software, while 70% – 80% percent of all 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 in order to address new security vulnerabilities that could arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation about WordPress security has even caused the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime in and reply to posts online.

In an article entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” posted 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, including banks, leading brands and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect Blog Security

Other areas that can affect site security include issues such as:

• 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 using outdated software.
• The biggest risk of all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes require frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Hosting setup. For example, sites 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 all sites on your server become vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most of the 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.) updated, there’s 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:  How To Protect Your WordPress Site Or Blog From Brute Force Attacks

A compromised blog offers hackers with a valuable platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your website to defraud online users. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and botnets. Learn more about it here:

• Prevent Malicious Cyber Attacks On Your WordPress Site By Bots & Hackers With Blog Defender Security Plugin

If you are currently using an older WordPress version remember to back up everything 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 perform manual backups, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here: Backup, Clone And Keep Your WordPress Sites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

References

The above facts were referenced from various 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, this article 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 the security benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please see other posts published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles are published.

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