In April 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to global-scale brute force attacks.
These attacks were caused by networks of infected computers programmed to attack other vulnerable computers (botnets).
(WordPress powers millions of websites around the world, making it an obvious target for attempted attacks by malicious users)
On March 11, 2014, technology sites began reporting that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in March 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP 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 a software for running their websites.
WordPress powers millions of websites worldwide, which makes it a target for hackers. But should you 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 have any concerns about website security.
WordPress Security Explained
Let’s start by looking at facts …
Thousands of websites are hacked every year … not just WordPress sites!
The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and things are only going to get worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!
Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but when before your website will be targeted by malicious hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?
How Secure Are “Open Source” Applications?
Many people will often argue that WordPress is not a secure platform for building and running websites because it is a freely available open source software program.
Open-source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone has access to the software code.
The argument, then, goes something like this: If anyone can access the Open Source software code for WordPress, then hackers can also easily obtain all of the code and study every line, looking for security vulnerabilities in the code that can be exploited …
(It’s not a matter of if, but when before your website will be targeted by hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)
While it’s true that WordPress is free and hackers can easily access it and study the code looking for security holes and vulnerabilities they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source platform actually makes it a whole lot more secure in many ways.
This is because WordPress has the support of an open community of thousands of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help to improve the program and make WordPress more secure …
(With WordPress, a community of thousands of developers worldwide is responsible for keeping the software platform up-to-date. Image source: make.wordpress.org)
WordPress continually evolves largely through the effort of thousands of committed individuals working around the clock to fix issues. Everyone benefits from thousands of individuals committed to improving the software and making it safer for every user …
(WordPress is built by a large community of users. Screenshot: make.wordpress.org)
The moment that a security hole is discovered by developers or users, the WordPress core developers are then notified …
(WordPress is continually being improved upon by an open community of web developers and users. Screenshot source: WordPress.org)
The WordPress community support system is very responsive and anybody can help contribute to securing the software.
For example:
- If you find bugs and security issues, you can report these by notifying security@wordpress.org.
- If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can also report these by emailing plugins@wordpress.org.
This is the reason why the core development team is constantly releasing new updates, and why you continually need to keep your WordPress site regularly updated …
(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to address any security weaknesses found)
WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary Platforms
Compare the benefits of using an open source CMS technology like WordPress with proprietary CMS platforms where often a small team with limited resources is responsible for developing, monitoring and improving software security, fixing bugs, etc., and you will quickly understand the value and advantages of using WordPress to run your web presence 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 platform. 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 CMS Vs Other Open Source CMS 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 WordPress is safer than other Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.
For example, here is one study showing how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in each of these open source platforms during a given period …
(National Vulnerability Database – Security Vulnerabilities IN CMS Applications. Source: National Vulnerability Database)
Other studies also indicate that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and maintain, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security vulnerabilities, WordPress sites had fewer exposure to risk …
(WordPress has significantly less exposure to risk than other CMS applications. Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Don’t Blame The Technology
If someone compromises the security of your WordPress site, don’t be too quick to blame 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, most webmasters are not fully aware of the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to properly secure a website, or deal with security compromises.
In fact, over sixty percent of webmasters surveyed for the report didn’t know how their sites were compromised by hackers after an attack …
(Many webmasters don’t know how their sites were hacked. Screenshot image: StopBadware.org)
Of more immediate concern is the fact that most security problems seem to be related to website owners running WordPress on outdated versions of the software …
(Many WordPress users have not upgraded their sites. 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 third-party code are found in the WordPress CMS core, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and developed externally for WordPress …
(WordPress Security Issues. Image: WebDesign.org)
Like all robust web platforms, WordPress is regularly updated in order to deal with new security problems that can arise. Improving security is an ongoing concern, and to that end, you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress.
WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Organizations!
The amount of misinformation about WordPress security has even caused Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, to chime in and reply to posts online.
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 around the world, including banks, leading brands and e-commerce sites choose WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers.
Other Areas That Can Affect Security
Other areas that can affect site security include factors like:
- No platform is safe from security threats. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using outdated software.
- The biggest security vulnerability of all content management systems seems to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring strong password security recommendations.
- Lack of constant system monitoring. All security systems require constant monitoring, testing, updating and improvement.
- Server setup. For example, sites on shared webhosting servers are only as safe as the least safe website on the grid, so if another user has a weak FTP password on your shared server, then all sites on your server become vulnerable to hacking also.
There’s No Reason Why You Should Not Use WordPress
As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most other leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you continue to implement basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and plugins, themes, etc.) regularly up-to-date, there’s really no reason not to choose WordPress to run your web site or blog.
WordPress Security – Practical 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 offers malicious users with a valuable resource to launch distributed attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and bots. Learn more about this plugin here:
If you are using older WordPress versions remember to back up everything before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.
If you don’t want to back up your files manually, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Copy And Keep Your WP Website Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP
References Used In This Article
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, the above post has given you 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 using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit other posts published on this site or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.
***
"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)