{"id":3565,"date":"2023-02-12T09:03:31","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T09:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenixmedia.com\/?p=3565"},"modified":"2023-02-12T09:03:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T09:03:31","slug":"secure-your-wordpress-site-by-updating-your-php","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.greenixmedia.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/12\/secure-your-wordpress-site-by-updating-your-php\/","title":{"rendered":"Secure your WordPress Site by Updating your PHP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Managing a WordPress site? Make sure you review what version of PHP your site is running on.<\/p>\n

As of December 2022, around 62.2% of WordPress sites are running on outdated, prior to 7.4 version of PHP. These sites are vulnerable to hacking.<\/p>\n

The safest PHP version that you should be using is the current revision, 8.0 or version 8.1.<\/p>\n

So what exactly is PHP? \u201cHypertext Preprocessor is a server-side scripting language designed for Web development, and also used as a general-purpose programming language.\u201d To put it simply, a lot of sites are built on PHP programming language. All WordPress sites in particular.<\/p>\n

The prime reason why you need to update your PHP is that the versions prior to 8.0 are no longer receiving security patches, without which your site becomes extremely vulnerable to hacking.<\/p>\n

Considering the fact that only 37.7% of websites are on PHP version 8.0 or higher, chances of you having to deal with this issue are greater, at least on one of the sites that you\u00a0 manage. When you log in to your WordPress dashboard, you will see a warning message which is a clear indication to update your PHP version.<\/p>\n

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Upon seeing the message, you need to contact your hosting company and ask them about the steps that need to be taken to get your PHP updated to version 8.1 or higher. Although your hosting company will assist you with everything, you will have to check on all of your plugins before updating.<\/p>\n

You can even check the version of your PHP by installing this PHP plugin. Have a look to find out where each version of PHP is in their life cycle according to php.net.<\/p>\n

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Updating your PHP isn\u2019t complicated. You can start by backing up your website. However, outdated plugins and themes can make it seem complicated.<\/p>\n

Theme & Plugin Compatibility With New PHP Versions<\/strong><\/p>\n

At times you may find that the older plugins and older themes or the custom plugins aren\u2019t compatible with 8.1 or higher versions. Before updating your PHP, it is advised to check which ones are likely to create incompatibility issues and get them updated or replaced.<\/p>\n

If you have a very outdated theme and are looking to update it, you will have to make certain adjustments for a more recent version. Themes that have a high risk of upgrading problems are those that use advanced editors such as Visual Composer. We have observed that these editors usually generate layout, menu, etc. problems when upgrading the theme.<\/p>\n

To avoid facing any problems, it is necessary that you resolve any issues before upgrading your PHP version. We suggest you follow the process in the following order to make things easier.<\/p>\n