Content management systems (CMS) have largely influenced the web industry and every CMS has its own unique features to offer. As WordPress and Joomla are considered to be the easiest, Drupal has a reputation for being so secure that even the Australian government prefers Drupal for its websites.
It is indeed true, but as everything needs evidence to be proven right, this article lists all the reasons to prove why Drupal has the most concrete security. Here are the eight most prominent aspects of Drupal that warrant this fact.
Drupal and Its Security Team
Drupal is designed to meet all the security standards set by Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), according to OWASP standards. OWASP is a non-profit charitable organization that regularizes a software’s security. Moreover, the CMS is actively analyzed to prevent future risks of security.
Drupal’s security team consists of 40 security experts from around the globe. These people manage the CMS security and their job is to identify and rectify the security vulnerabilities in Drupal’s core platform.
The community-created modules are also screened to ensure maximum level of security. Moreover, apart from resolving issues, the security team creates documentation of the identified vulnerabilities in order to help developers avoid security-related glitches in code.
Engaging Community
Drupal has one of the largest and most engaging community with over 1 million developers, trainers, strategists, etc. on board. All community members are proactive and constantly analyze the code for errors.
This kind of attention ensures that any issue or error in the code gets duly reported to the concerned Drupal authority and security team. This is the reason why it is considered as a rare case if a vulnerability makes its way into the core Drupal code.
Requires Password
Whenever Drupal is installed for the first time, the stored password in the database gets encrypted. It is then salted, that is adding characters to a password. After being salted, the password gets hashed, which is a mathematical one-way function. This complex procedure makes a password almost impossible to be cracked.
Apart from this process, many user-contributed modules have a feature of supporting two-factor authentication and SSL Certificates.
A Secure Codebase
Drupal has an open source code base but it is still reliable and strongly secured; much credits to the proficient Drupal security team. Every module that is contributed by a user is thoroughly reviewed by the Drupal community.
The practice minimizes chances of errors. A module that is contributed has to be approved by the core maintainers of Drupal. Only then it becomes available to the Drupal community. Everyone in the community has the authority to download a code and report any bugs that are found.
Encryption of Database
Encryption of database can be done using Drupal. The CMS Hosting can be configured to encrypt the database on every level. Either the database of a whole website or just a part of the website’s database; for example different types of content, user accounts, forms, etc.
The top-level encryption makes it easy for Drupal to be configured and pass different privacy standards or coding industry laws.
Access Controls
Drupal has access controls that have full authority. The users can make categorized accounts for different categories of websites. For example, user account of a blog will have separate access controls for a writer, editor or publisher.
This accessing method sets a different level of permissions and limits users to their defined roles. The feature restricts users from performing a task that they aren’t supposed to execute and makes every role glitch-free, which simultaneously improves the application’s security.
Active Security Reporting
A key practice to ensure top-level security of any CMS is keeping it up to date. Moreover, Â add-ons and plugins should be kept updated. The website should be properly configured as well.
Drupal has this feature of constantly updating and recommending you with the latest version of CMS and its plugins. These notifications help us in patching and avoiding vulnerabilities on time.
Trusted By Big and Governmental Organizations
Government organizations have sensitive information on their websites and they can’t afford security breaches. Similarly, industry-leading organizations always pick the best CMS for their websites because it is a matter of reputation and goodwill for them.
Drupal is trusted by governments and industry giants. Websites of White House, UNESCO, Harvard University, Fox News, Tesla Motors are all built on Drupal.
The list doesn’t end here. Industry-leading brands including Tag Heuer, Lamborghini, and Walt Disney chose Drupal for their websites too.
Final Words
All in all, these are the reasons why Drupal is considered to be the most secure CMS on the web. Its top-level security, constant screening method, engaging community and secure user access controls are the reasons why governments and private organizations trust Drupal for their websites.
However, the only con of Drupal is its complexity which makes it hard for a beginner to use this CMS without professional support. I would suggest readers to check out managed hosting for Drupal app, as it takes care of all the app-related upgradations and tasks.
Do share with me if you found this article helpful and if you learned anything new from it.
Hamza Zia
Hamza is a Drupal Community Manager at Cloudways - A Managed Drupal Hosting Platform. He loves to write about Drupal and related topics. During his free time, he can be seen obsessing over Football, Cars, Android and Gaming.
