In 2013 a global brute force attack hit WordPress installations on virtually every host server in existence around the world.

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

(WordPress often comes under attack by hackers)

In March 2014, many leading technology sites began reporting that 162,000 WordPress sites had been hacked.

(160,000+ WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image 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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When attacks on WordPress sites seem to increase, it’s natural for people to start asking just how secure WordPress is as a platform for running their websites.

Being the world’s most used content management system makes WordPress an obvious target for hacker attacks. But should you be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business website?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should consider using WordPress if you have any concerns about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

Thousands of websites are attacked every year … not just WordPress sites!

The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s only going to get worse.

You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … regardless of the web platform you use!

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

”How Can Open Source Software Applications Remain Protected From Hacking?”

Many people argue that WordPress cannot be a secure platform for building and running a business online because it is a freely available open source software program.

Open source CMS programs 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 everyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily download all of the code and go through every line in detail, looking for vulnerabilities they could exploit …

(It’s not a matter of if, but when before someone will try to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is a free program and hackers can easily go through the code searching for security holes or weaknesses (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open application actually makes it more secure in a number of ways.

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

(A huge community of web developers build and maintain. Image source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves because of the effort of a huge community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from hundreds of minds who are dedicated to improving the application, fixing bugs and making WordPress safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by an open community of experienced web developers. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

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

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

The WordPress community support system is very responsive and anyone can contribute to the process of addressing vulnerabilities.

For example:

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

This is the reason why the core development team releases new version updates so frequently, and why you continually need to keep your site up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new updates to plug security exploits)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

Compare what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS platforms where often a small team with limited resources is responsible for monitoring and maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will very quickly understand the value and advantages of using WordPress to run your business presence online on a secure platform.

WordPress is free to download, use and modify, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers work on improving the technology. Can a proprietary technology 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 include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in popular open source platforms during a given period …

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Platforms. Screenshot image: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies also indicate that, because WordPress is easy to use and keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, WordPress sites had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

(Blog Defender – CMS Tests. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame The Platform

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

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

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their sites were hacked after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that most security-related issues come from users not upgrading their CMS software to a newer version …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their WP software. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-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 …

(WordPress Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)

Like many modern web applications, WordPress is updated regularly in order to deal with new security problems that can arise. Improving software security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes up-to-date.

WordPress … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation online about how secure WordPress is has even caused the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime into the online debate.

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 around the world, including banks, leading brands and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers.

Other Issues That Can Affect WordPress Website Security

Other areas that can affect WP site security include:

• No platform is completely safe from hackers. 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 biggest vulnerability in all CMS platforms seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes need to be constantly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting accounts are only as safe as the least safe website on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on your server can potentially become vulnerable.

There’s No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Choose WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there’s no reason why you should not choose WordPress to power your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  Preventing WordPress Brute Force Attacks

An unsecured web site offers malicious users with a platform for distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers. Learn more about it here:

• Prevent Malicious Intrusions On Your WordPress Website By Hackers & Bots

If you are using older versions of WordPress remember to back up your WordPress website fully before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore things back to their previous state.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, 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, Clone And Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator WP Plugin

References

The facts quoted in this article 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 issues 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 our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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