Nexcess Praises The Introduction Of Site Health To WordPress 5.1
Nexcess, a leading provider of performance-optimized WordPress, Magento, and WooCommerce cloud hosting, has praised the WordPress project for introducing Site Health features to warn users whose WordPress site is based on an outdated version of PHP.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb. 28, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Nexcess, a leading provider of performance-optimized WordPress, Magento, and WooCommerce cloud hosting, has praised the WordPress project for introducing Site Health features to warn users whose WordPress site is based on an outdated version of PHP.
WordPress code is written in the PHP programming language. As an interpreted language, PHP code runs on an interpreter, software which is installed on every WordPress server. Over time, new versions of PHP are released to fix security vulnerabilities discovered in older versions. However, millions of WordPress websites run on old versions of PHP with known vulnerabilities that will never be fixed.
The release of WordPress 5.1 introduces Site Health features which warn WordPress users if their site uses an outdated version of PHP. At the moment, the warnings are triggered for PHP versions older than 5.6, and there are plans to move to more recent versions in the near future. Warning WordPress hosting clients of the potential security risks of older versions of PHP puts pressure on hosting providers to update the software supporting their WordPress hosting accounts.
"Responsible hosting providers use supported versions of PHP and other essential software for new hosting accounts. There may be a good reason to keep a site on an older version, but only when the client understands the potential risk," commented Chris Wells, President and CEO of Nexcess. "Millions of WordPress users trust hosting providers to keep them safe, but many fall short of that standard, and their clients have no idea. The new Site Health warnings ensure that WordPress users can make an informed choice about the security of their platform."
PHP 5.6 is the most widely used version of PHP. In fact, it is the most widely used version of any programming language on the web. PHP is used on 79% of websites and PHP 5.6 on about a quarter, with millions of sites using older versions. As of this year, PHP 5.6 is no longer supported. It will receive no security updates in the future. If a critical vulnerability is discovered in PHP 5.6, it won't be fixed.
It is important that WordPress users understand the implications of using older versions of PHP. The Site Health features and their associated information pages educate users, encouraging them to update or migrate their site to a hosting provider with a modern software stack. Nexcess provides up-to-date and supported versions of PHP and other software on all hosting accounts, including WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, and ExpressionEngine hosting.
About Nexcess
Nexcess is a Southfield, Michigan-based managed cloud and managed application hosting company founded in 2000, with data centers distributed throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. Nexcess offers a variety of performance-optimized and scalable managed cloud hosting solutions for Magento, WordPress, WooCommerce, ExpressionEngine, Craft CMS, and OroCRM. For more information, visit http://www.nexcess.net.
SOURCE Nexcess
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