In early 2013 a worldwide brute-force attack began hitting WordPress installations across virtually every WP hosting server in existence around the world.

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

(WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs worldwide, which makes it an obvious target for hacking)

In March 2014, many leading technology sites reported that over 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.

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

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

When attacks on WordPress sites are reported in the media, it’s natural for website owners to ask if WordPress really is a safe software for running websites.

WordPress is frequently the target of malicious attempts by hackers, due to its global popularity. But should you really be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business website?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should choose WordPress if you have any concerns 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 around the world is massive, and things are getting worse.

It’s probably safe to 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 you use!

Since it’s no longer 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?

”Isn’t Open Source Software Extremely Vulnerable?”

Many people argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running a business online because it’s an “open source” and freely available program.

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

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can study the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily download the code and study every single line in great detail, looking for security holes that can be exploited …

(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 a free program and hackers can easily go through the code searching for holes and vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open software platform actually makes it a lot more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress has the support of a large community 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 …

(With WordPress, an open community of web developers is responsible for keeping the platform code up-to-date. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves through the effort of hundreds of committed volunteers working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from thousands of individuals who are dedicated to improving the code and making WordPress safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a large community of experienced web developers. Image: make.wordpress.org)

The moment that a security issue is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core developers are then notified …

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

The WordPress community support system is quite formidable and anybody can help contribute to fixing the software.

For example:

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

This is the reason why the WordPress community releases new version updates regularly, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to plug any security issues found)

WordPress 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 improve code security. By contrast, a proprietary or “closed-source” software application would normally be built by a small team of developers with limited time and resources to provide continuous security monitoring, support, bug fixes and updates.

WordPress is 100% free to download, use and modify, and hundreds 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 Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, the chart below shows the number of security vulnerabilities found in popular open source platforms during a certain period …

(WordPress has fewer security vulnerabilities than other leading CMS applications. Source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other research indicates that, because WordPress is easy to use and to update, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security exploits, sites built with WordPress had less exposure to risk …

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

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

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

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch, a large number of website owners are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

In fact, 63% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their websites had been hacked after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to users not upgrading their WordPress software to the latest version …

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

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 35% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while 65% – 80% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

(WordPress Security Issues. Screenshot: WebDesign.org)

Like many web applications, WordPress is regularly updated in order to deal with new security problems that can arise. Improving software security is an ongoing 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 about how secure WordPress is has even led Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, 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, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect WordPress Site Security

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

• No platform is completely 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 threat of all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security processes need frequent monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Hosting setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as secure as the least safe website on the 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 Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses of all sizes to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic website security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) updated, there is no reason why you shouldn’t choose WordPress for 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

An unsecured site offers hackers with a platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets. Learn more about this plugin here:

• Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

If you are currently using an outdated version of WordPress remember to make a complete backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. 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 fully automate your backup process here: Backup, Duplicate And Keep Your WordPress Websites And Blogs Protected With Backup Creator WP Plugin

References

The above facts were sourced from the following sites:

• 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 build a better business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please click on links to visit other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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