Since the recent years, the maintainers of Drupal content management system have been regularly warning consumers about Drupal core's vulnerability to major security attacks. SQL Injection flaw can be considered as the most popular vulnerability that has got highlighted amongst the global Drupal designers and developers. Post the disclosure of this vulnerability, security threats got increased for the Drupal modules, allowing attackers to compromise a website without even requiring a genuine account. Today, through this blog I'll be emphasizing on why the Drupal development community needs to realize its responsibility for fixing any security bugs/errors that tend to enter into the Drupal powered websites and e-stores.
Getting hold of appropriate bug detection tools is a must
Nowadays, there are a number of Drupal users who tend to panic with the basic idea of troubleshooting their website. This is simply because they don't have the appropriate tools to do so. Well, if you're a Drupal developer who's intending to test a website for different devices and browsers, make it a point to get an easy access to the right set of debugging and testing tools. Take a week to get familiar with these tools and their working before utilizing them for your website testing project.
Finding a bug in existing Drupal software is beneficial
As per news reports, it has been found that some unresolved, unreported bugs within the Drupal software have been the prime reasons behind the continuously increasing count of Drupal websites that have been compromised by attackers. Although its an undeniable fact that every Drupal website available over the World Wide Web can be compromised, if suitable security measures are being taken beforehand, this is something that can be avoided as a whole. It's high time that the Drupal web developers realize the need for auditing their systems in order to find additional vulnerabilities.
Drupal's security team has been making continuous efforts to identify and resolve issues in Drupal
Drupal and its associated community has been paying strong attention to the security issues that tend to interfere with the smooth performance of Drupal powered websites and e-commerce stores. Drupal's Security Team, which includes the creator Dries Buytaert and a group of other major contributors to the platform, have made arrangements for timely detection and fixing of security issues that have cropped into the Drupal Core and the contributed modules. It is due to the continuous efforts of the Drupal Security Team that the software has undergone frequent updates.
Measures for keeping the core code secure should be taken on a timely basis
Core code basically refers to the set of code snippets that you receive after downloading Drupal from its official website. As a Drupal programmer, you'll probably need to supplement this core code with some interesting third-party extensions, configurations and settings. Since core is what the Drupal web development projects' main team develop, it is mandatory for the professionals to take suitable measures for ensuring complete security of this Drupal core code. It is beneficial for Drupal web developers to create a team of trained Drupal experts who can look into eliminating all the security flaws.
There's a need for making access control more granular and manageable
If you're a Drupal website owner, you might have definitely delegated editorial and content-uploading privileges to not just your employees but even to customers, volunteers and a range of internet users. It is here that the role of Access Control List(ACL) comes to play. By defining and controlling the access to your Drupal website, you can easily prevent your site from any kind of threats. Whether its safeguarding your Drupal website from the attack of hackers or the malwares/trojans, a timely utilization of the Access Control List(ACL) mechanism will definitely allow you to enjoy the experience of operating a secure website. Not only Drupal website owners, but even Drupal developers need to gather a detailed understanding of Drupal's real strength i.e. its access control functionality. It is interesting to note that Drupal Core comes with a robust Role system that specifies a specific type for the user who's accessing the Drupal admin dashboard. This system is called the Permission system where each user has a specific user ID and he/she can have more than one role at a time. For example, a bloggers can also serve as a paid subscriber to the Drupal powered website.
Conclusion
Therefore, it is crucial for every Drupal programmer to understand that he/she needs to be very cautious during execution of a Drupal web development project. Nothing should be taken for granted because even a slight negligence can pose as a huge security threat to the entire website.
Author Bio: Jason Roiz is a productive author, who brings to the table a quantum of learning around web development services. He meets expectations for OSSMedia Ltd., a Drupal development company which also giving proficient WordPress, Joomla and Magento improvement administrations.