Hackers have long been known for their tendency to identify weaknesses in programs, but in today’s world, there are a number of programs that people put to use which are incredibly easy to keep safe. CMS or Content Management Systems are standard on the web today, being the software that runs blogs from all over the world. Two common examples of this are Joomla and WordPress, loved by users globally for their ease of use and high number of features. While these blogs are certainly a good way to get content out to the public, they do need to be updated with patches just as soon as those patches are made available because hackers do look for ways to exploit these programs and attack the web application security. While users might be aware that patching is needed, all too often it is not kept up with and when that happens, big problems can arise. SySmox experienced such a problem when a number of users who had not kept with the patching for their Joomla and WordPress installations unwittingly played a role in helping hackers attack the ISP’s shared hosting servers. The hackers were able to run scripts that caused problems and forced the tech support team to go to battle against the scripts to regain control over the servers by exploiting vulnerabilities in the kernel.
SySmox has long prided itself on being there for its customers and this attack on the shared hosting servers proved that it had a team willing to check up to the plate when needed. Now, users are being made aware again that it is incredibly crucial to keep hosting; CMS software like WordPress and Joomla up to date with the latest patches and this applies even for those who do not have a site hosted by this ISP. As awareness begins to spread, it is certainly a great deal easier for to maintain higher levels of security that make sure these types of problems are able to be guarded against and, even if they arise, that they can be dealt with in a swift manner. This certainly is an important part of keeping the web safe for visitors and those who are doing business online or running sites for pleasure.
