You may have seen the news this morning about a major security issue affecting websites around the world.
It’s a pretty significant story, with organisations including government departments and major businesses taking websites offline as a precaution while emergency security updates are applied.
The issue relates to PHP, the technology that sits behind WordPress and a huge proportion of the world’s websites.
Two serious security vulnerabilities have been discovered which could potentially allow hackers to access websites and the servers they’re hosted on. Emergency fixes have now been released, and website hosting companies and developers around the world are working to make sure their systems are protected.
So, what are we doing about it?
We’ve been reviewing the situation this morning and are treating it as a priority across our hosting environment.
Our focus is on checking the PHP versions running on our servers, identifying any potential vulnerabilities and ensuring the appropriate security updates are applied as quickly and safely as possible.
We’re also checking compatibility with the WordPress websites we host, as PHP updates can occasionally cause issues with older themes and plugins.
If your website is hosted with The Bright Click, there’s nothing you need to do right now.
We’re looking after the hosting side of things and will contact you directly if anything requires your attention.
A quick reminder about website maintenance
Events like this are also a useful reminder that websites need ongoing care, even when everything appears to be working perfectly.
WordPress, plugins and themes all need regular updates to keep them secure and compatible with the technology running behind the scenes.
It’s one of the reasons we encourage clients to have a regular website maintenance plan in place.
Keeping everything up to date helps reduce the risk of security problems and makes it much easier to respond when something unexpected happens.
If you’re not currently on one of our maintenance packages and would like to understand what’s involved, please just ask. We’re always happy to advise.
For now, the important thing is that we’re aware of the situation, we’re taking the necessary precautions and we’re working to keep your websites safe.
We’ll continue monitoring developments and will let you know if there’s anything further you need to be aware of.
If you’d like to read more about what’s happening, you can follow the BBC’s live coverage here.
