Around 80 percent of all Internet websites today run on PHP, a recent report from W3Techs has revealed. But as PHP ages, older versions are being retired. On December 31, 2018, PHP will stop providing security support to version 5, leaving 62 percent of websites running the older version of PHP without security updates.

While there’s nothing wrong with most internet sites running on PHP, many websites haven’t upgraded past version 5. As a result, millions of websites could become attractive targets for hackers.

Many security researchers have issued warnings. However, web hosting providers are reluctant to roll out PHP version upgrades to websites since a large number of support requests would follow as a result.

Quoting Scott Arciszewski, Chief Development Officer at Paragon Initiative Enterprise, TechRepublic writes, “If anyone finds themselves running PHP 5 after the end of the year, ask yourself: Do you feel lucky? Because I sure wouldn’t.”

Of the three largest website providers – WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal – only Drupal has made the step to require users to upgrade to the newer version of PHP. However, that step will come in March of 2019.

Get the full story at Techrepublic.