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

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

(WordPress is often the target of malicious attacks by hackers, due to its global popularity)

On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.

(Over 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)

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

Whenever global attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for people to ask just how secure WordPress is as a platform for building and running their sites.

WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs worldwide, making it a natural target for attempted attacks by malicious users. But should you really 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 at all concerned about website security.

WordPress Security Explained

Let’s start with some facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and this is only going to get worse.

It’s probably safe to 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 you use!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of 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 Remain Protected From Hacking?”

Some people will often argue that WordPress should not be used for running websites and blogs because it is a freely available open source application.

Open-source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can have access to the software code.

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If everyone can access the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily get hold of the code and study every line in detail, searching for security holes they can exploit …

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

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

This is because WordPress has the support of a huge volunteer community that consists of hundreds of people such as software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who constantly help improve the platform and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, a huge community of hundreds of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the software platform up-to-date. Source: WordPress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of a global community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the application, identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities and making it safer for every user …

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

As soon as any security weaknesses are identified by developers or users, these are recorded in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core development team …

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

The WordPress community support system is solid and formidable and anyone can help contribute to improving the software.

For example:

• If you notice bugs and security weaknesses, you can report these by sending an email to security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WordPress plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why the WordPress community releases new updates so frequently, and why you continually need to keep your sites and blogs regularly updated …

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to plug any security vulnerabilities found)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

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

The WordPress CMS is 100% free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the technology. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a completely free CMS software that you can download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS Applications

(CMS Platforms)

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

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were found in each of these open source platforms during a certain period …

(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Applications. Image source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies show that, because WordPress is easy to use and keep updated, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites run on WordPress had fewer exposure to risk …

(BlogDefender.com – CMS Tests. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)

Don’t Blame WordPress

If someone compromises the security of your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to place the blame on 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 webmasters are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their websites had been hacked after an attack …

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

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

(Many security issues come from sites running outdated WordPress versions. Image source: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were examined in more detail, it was found that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

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

Like many web platforms, WordPress is updated regularly to address new security threats that may 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 Is Secure – Just Ask Any Bank That Uses It!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even caused the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime into the online discussion.

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

Other Factors Affecting Security

Other studies on issues that play a role in website security point to factors such as:

• No platform is completely immune to hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to software that is out of date.
• The main vulnerability in all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore strong password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems require regular monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
• Hosting server setup. For example, websites on shared hosting are only as secure as the least safe site on the hosting grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on your server are potentially vulnerable.

There Is No Reason Not To Use WordPress

As you can see, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses of all sizes to build their presence online. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there’s no reason to avoid choosing WordPress to power your web site or blog.

WordPress Security – Tips

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

A compromised blog provides malicious users with a resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and use your site to steal information from others. Blog Defender Security Plugin for WordPress Blogs makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Learn more about it here:

• Prevent Hackers From Attacking Your WP Website With Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Websites & Blogs

If you are currently using an outdated version of WordPress make sure to back up your WordPress website fully before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their previous state.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Back Up, Duplicate And Keep Your WP Web Site Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

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 issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better business results online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please see other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new articles or tutorials are published.

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