The New Auto Update Feature Coming with WordPress Themes and Plugins

WordPress as the leading CMS platform is always known for frequent updates and value additions. The upcoming WordPress 5.5 will come with several enhanced abilities. Every new WordPress update comes with new value additions and positive changes for the users. These changes and value additions are known to make the WordPress platform better for web users. This WordPress 5.5 update is also coming with few value additions and among them, the most important value addition is this auto-updating capability for the themes and plugins. 

A Quick Look at the Background 

You are terribly mistaken if you think auto-updating features have never been available with the WordPress platform. WordPress has always been at the forefront in updating its content management features from time to time and fine-tune the WordPress user experience. For example, auto-updating is now available for the WordPress CMS core right now. But for the WordPress CMS plug-ins and themes, the updating needs to be done manually by the users. In case they don’t take care of updating these themes and plugins, they can be more exposed to security risks.

With the WordPress 5.5 update, this auto-updating of the themes and plugins is going to be possible. The auto-updating feature which was only available with the core WordPress now is going to be extended to the themes and plugins of the platform. Earlier, website hackers could attack and get unsolicited access to website data by manipulating the security layer of these themes and plugins. This auto-updating finally will prevent such security vulnerabilities from taking place. 

So, in more than one way the present value addition is going to offer a big relief to the webmasters concerned about the website security and key vulnerabilities. A few weeks before, a number of WordPress plugins have been exploited by hackers. For each of these cases, hackers could get control of the websites simply by devastating the backdated security layers of those affected plugins. One of the biggest security challenges basically emerges from these plugins and themes as most WordPress site owners after installing them simply forget about updating them from time to time. This used to expose most WordPress websites to innumerable security risks and glitches. 

A Long-awaited Feature Finally Became a Reality 

Auto-updating for the WordPress plug-ins and themes always have been a big source of security risks for countless websites. WordPress has enjoyed the leading position among the CMS solutions principally because of its scope of customization with the help of themes and plugins. While themes help any WordPress website wear its preferred look and feel, the custom third-party plugins help WordPress websites to customize their functions and usability elements. Naturally, without the vast repository of themes and plugins, the typical user experience attributes of WordPress literally remain unthinkable. 

But, at the same time, these plugins and themes developed by third-party development companies create broad scopes of security vulnerabilities and glitches. A number of times, backdated themes and plugins helped many WordPress websites suffer the onslaught of security attacks and data breaches of all types. To prevent such attacks and security glitches, the only option for the WordPress websites was to update the themes and plugins from time to time. 

Now thanks to this new capability, WordPress 5.5 users don’t have to be concerned about updating their website themes and plugins manually. The updating will take place automatically just as the WordPress core is updated automatically. 

The WordPress developer team has worked on adding this auto-update mechanism to the website themes and plugins which were always common sources of website hacks and security vulnerabilities. The security glitches emerge mainly because website owners often just forget to update themes and plugins manually from time to time.

The developers started to work on this feature months ago and they first made this auto-updating feature possible for the plugins and later on, they also started to work on making the same capability available for the themes as well. 

How Can Website Owners Use the New Feature? 

Once the auto-updating option rolls out for the latest 5.5 version of the WordPress content management system (CMS), the website owners will have the capability to configure themes and plugins so that they get auto-updated. All they need to do from now on us to check an option in the admin panel of their websites. 

Advanced web developers and enthusiasts who want to go deeper into this new feature and its background code, can see the source code of WordPress since version 3.7. That means this background auto-updating capability was already thought of and included in the WordPress core structure but it is only being made available now with 5.5 updates.

Conclusion 

Several leading cybersecurity experts and WordPress developers all over the globe pointed out the security vulnerabilities and glitches emerging out of the third-party themes and plugins. Some of the leading cybersecurity companies like Sucuri, Wordfence, WebARX, and NinTechNet have time and again mentioned that the majority of WordPress website hacking took place from the outdated plugins and themes running in the background. 

The new capability is likely to bring down the number of security attacks and hacking instances for WordPress websites. The feature will be available from the rollout of the WordPress 5.5 version.