In 2013 a global brute force attack struck WordPress installations across almost every web host in existence around the world.

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

(WordPress often is targeted by hackers, due to its popularity)

In March 2014, many technology sites reported that over 160,000+ legitimate 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)

As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

Whenever global brute force attacks happen on WordPress sites, it’s natural for website owners to ask just how safe and secure WordPress is as an application for building and running their sites.

Powering millions of sites worldwide makes WordPress an obvious target for malicious attempts by hackers. But do you need to be concerned about WordPress as a secure platform for building your business web presence?

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 facts …

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

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and this is only going to get worse.

You can safely 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 not a matter of if, but a matter of 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 Unsafe?”

Some people will often argue that WordPress should not be used for building and running web sites because it’s “open source” and freely available program.

Open-source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone can have access to the entire 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 obtain all of the code and study all of it in detail, looking for vulnerabilities in the code that could be exploited …

(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 application and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for weaknesses or vulnerabilities (hackers can do the same with any program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it more secure in many ways.

This is because WordPress is supported by a global volunteer community consisting of thousands 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 …

(WordPress is built, maintained and updated by an open community of volunteers. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of a huge community working around the clock to fix issues. It benefits from thousands of minds who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software, identifying and fixing security issues and making it safer for every user …

(The WordPress core software is built and maintained by an open community of volunteers. Image source: WordPress.org)

As soon as any security vulnerabilities are identified by developers or users, these are normally noted in user forums and addressed by the WordPress core developers …

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

The WordPress community support system is quite formidable and anybody can contribute to the process of getting vulnerabilities plugged.

For example:

• If you notice bugs or security vulnerabilities, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by notifying plugins@wordpress.org.

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

(WordPress continually releases new version updates to plug security weaknesses)

WordPress Vs Proprietary CMS Applications

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

The WordPress CMS is free to download, modify and use, and hundreds of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the platform. 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 CMS Vs Other Open Source Platforms

(CMS Platforms - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

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 each of these platforms during a given period …

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

Other studies indicate that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to update, when sites across different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, sites built with WordPress had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

(WordPress users are not as exposed to security risks as other CMS platform users. Source: BlogDefender.com)

WordPress Is Not Always To Blame

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

According to security organizations Commtouch and StopBadware in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, many webmasters are not fully aware of the threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their sites had been compromised after an attack …

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

Of more immediate concern, however, is the fact that many security problems seem to be related to website owners running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many WordPress sites are running on outdated versions. 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 actually found in the WordPress CMS core, while 70% – 85% percent of all security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally …

(WordPress Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust software platforms, WordPress is regularly updated to address new security vulnerabilities that can arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress software, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

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

In an article entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” posted on April 15, 2015, Matt wrote the following about WordPress security …

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 use WordPress to build their websites, including banks, leading brands, and e-commerce sites, not just bloggers.

Other Areas Affecting WordPress Blog Security

Other areas that can affect security include issues like:

• No platform is completely immune to security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to being attacked, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The main vulnerability of all content management platforms seems to be the users themselves. For example, many users ignore good password security practices.
• Lack of constant monitoring. All security processes need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting servers are only as safe as the least safe website on the grid, so if another user on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then all sites on the server become vulnerable.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Choosing WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is quite secure. As long as you commit to implementing basic web security measures (which all website owners should do) and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) up-to-date, there is no reason why you shouldn’t choose WordPress.

WordPress Security – Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article:  Protect Your WordPress Site Or Blog From Brute Force Attacks

An unsecured site presents hackers with a valuable platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender makes your WordPress site invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and bots. Go here to learn more:

• How To Secure Your WordPress Blogs From Botnets & Hackers

If you are using outdated WordPress versions make sure you make a full site backup before updating your software to protect your site from the latest security threats. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore your web site or blog to its former state.

If you don’t want to back up your site manually, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here: Back Up, Clone And Protect Your WordPress Site With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

References

The above statistics 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 website and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress for a business website please click on links to visit other articles published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications whenever new content is published.

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