In early 2013 a worldwide brute force attack struck WordPress installations on virtually every WP host server in existence.

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

(Being the world’s most popular content management system makes WordPress a target for attempted hacking attacks)

On March 11, 2014, many technology sites began reporting that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.

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

As reported by 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 worldwide brute-force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to start asking just how safe and secure the WordPress platform is for running an online presence.

Powering millions of websites and blogs worldwide makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking. But should you 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 consider using WordPress if you are concerned 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 worldwide is rising, and it’s getting worse.

It’s 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 your website has been built with!

Since it’s not a matter of if, but when before someone will attempt to hack your website, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

Are “Open Source” Software Applications Really Safe?

Many people often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running a website or blog because having open source code means that anyone can view how the program was built.

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 access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily get hold of the code and study it in great detail, searching for holes and weaknesses that can be exploited …

(It’s no longer a matter of if, but when before a malicious user will try to hack your website … WordPress or no WordPress!)

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

This is because WordPress has the support of a large community that consists of thousands 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, a community of hundreds of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the software platform updated. Screenshot source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a huge community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. It benefits from thousands of minds dedicated to improving the software and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built by a large community of volunteer web developers. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

As soon as any security vulnerability is discovered by developers or users, these are then recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …

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

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

For example:

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

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

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

Compare the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary CMS technologies where often the responsibility for improving software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a much smaller team of developers with limited resources and you will very quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your business presence online on a secure platform.

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

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source Applications

(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 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 given period …

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

Other studies also indicate that, because WordPress is easy to use and to keep up-to-date, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, WordPress sites had less exposure to risk …

(Blog Defender – CMS Tests. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)

It’s Not WordPress’ Fault

When WordPress sites get subjected to brute-force attacks, don’t be too quick to blame the WordPress CMS platform.

According to a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, most webmasters have no idea about the 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 by hackers after an attack …

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

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

(Many WordPress sites use outdated versions. Image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 30% percent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

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

Like many web applications, WordPress is regularly updated to deal with new security issues that could arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress.

WordPress … Secure Enough For Banks To Use!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even caused the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime into the online 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 around the world, including banks, large organizations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their presence online, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect WordPress Security

Other issues that can affect WordPress site security include:

• No platform is completely immune to 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 vulnerability of all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security practices.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. Security processes need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Webhosting server setup. For example, websites 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 that server can potentially become vulnerable to hacking as well.

There Is No Reason Why You Shouldn’t Choose WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their chosen technology platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t use WordPress to run your website or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks see this article:  How To Help Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On Your WordPress Website

An unsecured web site provides hackers with a platform to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Web Sites makes your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• Prevent Botnets & Hackers From Finding & Attacking Your Web Sites

If you are using outdated versions of WordPress 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 things back to their former settings.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are a number of plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here: Backup, Clone & Protect Your WordPress Websites With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

Article 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, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please see other articles we have published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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