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

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

(WordPress powers millions of websites around the world, which makes it a natural target for attacks by hackers)

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

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 2014. Image source: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever brute force attacks on WordPress sites attract attention worldwide, it’s natural for people to start questioning if WordPress really is a safe software for building and running an online presence.

Powering millions of sites around the world makes WordPress an obvious target for hacking. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as being a secure platform for building your business presence online?

In this article, you will learn some of the main reasons why you should choose WordPress if you are at all concerned 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 massive, and the situation is only going to get worse.

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

”How Can Open Source Software Applications Be Secured?”

Some people often argue that WordPress cannot be a secure platform for building and running a business online because its “open source” code is freely available.

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

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

(It’s not a matter of if, but when before your website will be targeted by malicious hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is free to download and hackers can easily access it and study the code searching for security vulnerabilities or weaknesses that can be exploited (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it a lot more secure in a number of ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by an open community comprised of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a global volunteer community of thousands of web developers is responsible for keeping the code maintained and updated. Image: WordPress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of hundreds of committed individuals working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from thousands of web developers, designers and users committed to improving the application, fixing bugs and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by a large community of volunteer members. Source: make.wordpress.org)

As soon as security problems are discovered by developers or users, these are then recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core development team …

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by thousands of committed individuals community of web developers and users. Image: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anyone can contribute to the process of addressing security issues.

For example:

• If you come across bugs and security exploits, you can report these by sending an email to 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 WordPress community releases new security updates so frequently, and why you need to keep your sites and blogs updated and maintained …

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

WordPress Vs Proprietary Applications

Compare the benefits of using an open source CMS platform like WordPress with proprietary technologies where often the responsibility for maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a small team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly realize the value and advantages of using WordPress to power your websites and blogs on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is 100% free to download, modify and use, and thousands 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 Applications

(CMS Platforms)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, there is valid research showing that the WordPress CMS 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 discovered in popular open source platforms during a given period …

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

Other research indicates that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and keep up-to-date, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites built with WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

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

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

When WordPress sites get attacked, you shouldn’t be quick to blame WordPress.

According to a report called “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective,” which is published by security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware, a large number of webmasters have no idea about the security 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 even know how their websites were compromised by hackers after an attack …

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

Of immediate concern, however, is the fact that many security issues seem to be related to users not upgrading their CMS software to the latest version …

(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their software. Screenshot image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in third-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while 70% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …

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

Like many modern web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to deal with new security problems that can arise. Improving software security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, plugins, and themes updated to the latest version.

WordPress Is Secure – Even Banks Are Using It!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even led 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, large organizations and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their websites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas That Can Affect WordPress Blog Security

Other issues that can affect WP blog security include:

• No platform is immune to hackers. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to outdated software.
• The biggest threat in all web platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems need to be frequently monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Webhosting setup. For example, websites on shared hosting accounts 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 all sites on that server are potentially vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Choose WordPress

As you can see, 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 web security measures (which all website owners should do, regardless of their web platform) and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) updated, there’s really no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to drive your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Useful Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  WordPress Brute Force Attack Prevention Measures

An unsecured web site presents malicious users with a valuable resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• Blog Defender Review

If you are using older WordPress versions remember to back up your WordPress site files and data before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security risks. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Clone And Keep Your WordPress Website Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

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 build a better business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using the WP software please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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