Open Source Platforms

WordPress powers 9% of all sites on the internet. WordPress is powered by an open source platform. This means that the source code that runs the site is available online for anyone to see. Hackers can search through the code and find vulnerabilities to exploit to their advantage. 9% of sites on the entire internet are available to any hacker willing to put in the time to pinpoint these exploits. This is a huge number of websites to be at someones disposal at any instant.

WordPress sites are very good and easy targets as well. Due to the mass number of WordPress sites out there figuring out an exploit can potentially be very profitable for someone and makes the time investment worthwhile for them. Nearly all WordPress sites have “Powered by WordPress” on the bottom. Hackers can simply google these search terms and find WordPress sites. WordPress often updates their code and the version of WordPress is also listed on the bottom of the page just waiting to be searched and exploited by hackers. Many sites also have a copyright date, making it easy to target old versions of WordPress.

WordPress is ran and designed by volunteers. This can mean that the people aren’t nearly as qualified as the could be and could lead to potential flaws in coding and raises the question if they are capable enough to create a secure open source platform to be utilized by millions of users.

Since its used on so many sites, its the main platform that hackers target. Millions of websites are powered by WordPress. This fact alone makes it an optimal target for hackers. By just hacking one platform they can gain access to millions of websites allowing them to profit for themselves or just wreak havoc for just their own amusement.

Joomla powers 4% of the entire web. Its much more complex code, leading to more vulnerabilities. More vulnerabilities leads to more exploits leads to potentially easier exploits which then can prove to produce more hackers aiming at a web design platform. Together, the 5 major CMS, content management systems, power nearly 20% of the web. This is an enormous amount of websites that use similar coding that can all be and have been hacked given enough time put into it. The results are devastating to businesses. Hackers can get into their system and completely wipe it out.

Plugin Vulnerability

Plugins and extensions are made by users for free. They are not all professional programmers, leaving them open to exploits as well. Plugins are nifty little things you can place on your website to add cool features to it. These can be highways to your internal control panel and can expedite the process of hacking immensely.

The Future of Hacking

The exploits are not going to stop. Recently a virus named Stuxnet infiltrated many government agencies and nuclear power plant facilities. The virus was capable of altering conditions in the nuclear reactor while still giving the all clear to the people who maintained the plants. This was the most complex virus ever seen before and is also available open source. The code for this virus is out there for anyone to see. If this is possible then anything can be possible, from infecting airplane control panels and causing a massive simultaneous terrorist strike to a virus that makes soda machines spit out sodas at no cost. Coding is becoming warfare of sorts with governments developing viruses to infect other enemy governments with viruses for spying and destroying information.

Is your site secure? Chances are there is an exploit available out there to hack into your website and all that is waiting for is someone with the time and the motive to hack into it. Many websites do not use the latest security software needed to secure a website. Especially an open source platform available to everyone.

Prevention

The prevention of viruses and hacking is the most effective way to combat them. Always making sure that you have up-to-date software installed on your computer as well as your website server is essential in keeping your website safe from hackers.

Viruses

Hacking doesn’t just top at websites. As mentioned previously viruses are still a growing field and even Mac users should be worried about infiltrations. As Macs become more popular it becomes more profitable to develop viruses for Mac operating systems leading to more people going after them. Jailbreaking your iPhone has been around for nearly every single version of iOS this is nothing more than hacking the operating system. If that is possible then so is hacking any other Mac operating system. Viruses are capable of practically anything. It is up to the coder themselves to decide what they want it to achieve and with enough coding anything is possible.   

Thomas Chavez

Professional Staff Content Writer and Research Enthusiast for RankExecutives.com

After months of dithering around the fate of WebOS, HP has finally chosen the middle ground by deciding to keep the mobile platform while passing it over to open source. “HP intends to remain active in the development and support of WebOS “says the manufacturer in a statement.

Enyo, the framework used for WebOS applications will also be put out to the open source community “in the near future.” However no details on the level of involvement that HP intends to maintain nor on the possible reduction of staff within the division webOS.

Updates for the TouchPad

In a short series of questions / answers, the source indicates that this transition will not affect current users who have a TouchPad and will continue to receive updates.

Will there other webOS devices HP signed? The answer is more elusive, “we will explore the viability of focus on webOS devices, as we do for other operating systems.” In what direction webOS will it evolve? Who are the manufacturers who may be interested? Key issues like these for the moment remain unanswered.

Written by the authors of www.webconcept3000.com a design service dedicted to corporate web design in the UK.