Why WordPress Plugins and Themes Must Be Up-To-Date

WordPress is a powerful CMS (Content Management System), that allows users to easily manage their website content. WordPress is preferred by most bloggers and enterprises around the world over any other alternative.

WordPress has proven its value year after year with its amazing and easy-to-use features. WordPress is popular for blogging.

One thing is certain: WordPress platforms are so heavily relied upon that we don’t want our blogs to be compromised by hacking attempts. Agree? It seems like a nightmare.

What is WordPress Security?

What if your blogs were hacked overnight? Users are redirected to another website. It is a completely irrelevant site. It’s impossible. This could be because hackers are able to access your website and use it for malicious purposes.

We have had major data breaches, including ransomware in recent years, on WordPress. WordPress has been the victim of major security breaches a few times. Are you not aware of this?

Let’s have a look at recent WordPress data attacks.

• TimThumb, a strong security vulnerability script that has been able to compromise millions of WordPress sites’ data, is not as innocent as its name. The hacker disguises himself as a photo-resizing program, which is commonly used by most plugin developers. The hacker then enters malicious code onto the user’s site and performs DDoS attacks, spear-phishing data campaigns, and eventually makes the website unresponsive. This attack has caused a lot of damage to businesses over the last two years.
• WordPress.org Hack: Unauthorized parties modified major WordPress plugins such as WPtouch or W3 Total Cache. Hackers could make malicious use of these plugins on any blog where they were installed.

Here’s How to Keep Your WordPress Themes and Plugins Up-to-Date

You are inviting hackers to steal confidential information from you if you make a mistake. In a matter of seconds, all your hard work and years could be lost.

You can reduce and monitor any potential risks to your website. What is the real problem? Usually, people don’t update their themes and plugins regularly.

Are you still not convinced? Want more proof that WordPress themes and plugins must be updated regularly? Here’s a dropdown with enough evidence to convince you.

Security Factors

WordPress is an open-source platform that allows developers to create themes and plugins that can be integrated with the software. Hackers have the opportunity to attack data by making the source code available to the public.

WordPress provides regular security and bug fixes to help overcome this. These updates include security updates, but also rich functionalities that will improve your user experience. These are some of the new features in WordPress 4.9.

• The theme installation has been improved.
• A new gallery widget
• Along with scheduling, drafting, and revising posts.
• It supports text widgets.

Rapid Speed

Websites that are updated frequently have better speeds. Speed is a key factor in SEO and page loading times. A website that loads quickly can help reduce bounce rates and reach potential customers more easily. This will help you rank higher in search engines and increase your conversion rates.

Staying on The Safe Side

Make sure to back up your data before you do any kind of update. This is because if your upgrade is not successful, you can easily access website backups to determine which plugin or theme is incompatible with the website. To avoid future problems, it is a good idea to check plugin compatibility and theme compatibility before you upgrade.

You should also ensure that you use a trusted source when selecting a theme or plugin. Compatibility issues can be avoided by using a trusted source with a proven track record.

Conclusion

For beginners, updating WordPress sites can be difficult as it requires you to leave the site. Extended updates can expose data to security threats and could cause incompatibility issues. You can trust your WordPress site once it has been updated successfully. It will be protected from hackers and other malicious activities, it will have data security, there won’t be any downtime, accurate results, and you’ll receive an update with a wide variety of exciting functionalities.