Think Like a Hacker with Wordfence

Latest Episodes:

Episode 36: Proposals to Improve WordPress Include WP Notify and Security Backporting Changes Aug 07, 2019

Show notes

This week, we talk about our corporate trip to DEF CON, the WordPress security team's proposal to backport security fixes to fewer releases, a new feature proposal called WP Notify that has a number of very positive implications for WordPress users, Cloudflare's decision to terminate service for 8Chan, and a European court's ruling that companies using the Facebook "like" button are liable for data collection.

Here are timestamps in case you would like to jump around: 1:18 The Defiant trip to DEF CON 3:05 WordPress Security team proposes backporting fixes to fewer releases 6:58 Feature Proposal: WP Notify 11:52 Cloudflare terminates service for 8Chan 16:05 Sites using Facebook "like" button liable for data

Episode 35: Security Researcher Jem Turner Talks About Pipdig Scandal Aug 02, 2019

Show notes

Jem Turner was one of the security researchers that found malicious code in Pipdig's P3 plugin. Both Jem and Wordfence's Mikey Veenstra found the P3 plugin to contain a number of suspicious or malicious features, including a remote "killswitch," an obfuscated function used to change users' passwords, and code which generated hourly requests to DDoS a competitor's site. At WordCamp Europe, Mark sat down with Jem and asked about her process of finding this malicious code and the diligence in her research. Jem also talks about the unexpected reaction from the Pipdig developer and their many users, and how the community of bloggers banded together to help others who found themselves unable to migrate to safer themes themselves.

Episode 34: Capital One Data Breach Impacts over 100M Customers and Other News Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

This week we talk about the Capital One breach affecting over 100 million customers and some important takeaway lessons from that case. We also look at news with the the Equifax settlement, a spearphishing campaign targeting ProtonMail users, the conclusion to Marcus Hutchins' legal woes, and Facebook's $5 billion fine and new regulation from the FTC, amongst other stories.

Here are timestamps in case you would like to jump around: 1:20 WordCamp Asia & WordCamp US 3:36 Capital One Breach 14:19 Equifax settlement news 18:00 ProtonMail spearphishing 21:08 Marcus Hutchins case 25:01 Facebook fined by FTC 31:27 Ransomware affecting Georgia police car laptops 33:08 Los Angeles police data breach 36:48 Comodo exposed credentials 39:34 Siri recording sensitive moments 44:04 Anonymizing data doesn't protect privacy

Episode 33: Joomla Security Lead David Jardin Discusses Securing Over 2.5 Million Joomla Sites Jul 26, 2019

Show notes

David Jardin is the Security Strike Team Lead for Joomla, an open-source content management system powering more than 2.5 million websites. At WordCamp Europe, Mark and David sat down and talked about the workflow for Joomla security reports and why a proper proof of concept makes fixing vulnerabilities easier for security teams. They also discussed the improvements in cryptographic code signing expected in Joomla 4, its next major release.

Episode 32: WordPress Vulnerabilities Targeted, iOS Security Update & the Equifax Settlement Jul 23, 2019

Show notes

This week, we cover WordPress vulnerabilities targeted by a malvertising campaign and an important iOS security update. We also look at Equifax's $700 million settlement and a recent uptick of new breaches added to Have I Been Pwned. Along with other news and a summary of WordCamp Boston, we talk about the film project we've worked on since late last year. Open | The Community Code will premiere November 2019. We talk about how and why we created this film about the open-source WordPress community.

Episode 31: Securing Sensitive Data in the Cloud with Chris Teitzel Jul 19, 2019

Show notes

At WordCamp Europe, Mark chats with Chris Teitzel, CEO and founder of Lockr. Lockr is a key management system for websites using CMSs like WordPress and Drupal. Chris talks about the challenges of securing sensitive information and how Lockr makes secure key management affordable. Chris speaks on security topics at WordCamps and DrupalCons around the world.

You can find Chris on Twitter @technerdteitzel and learn more about his company at www.lockr.io.

Episode 30: WordPress Ad Inserter Plugin Vulnerability and Other News Jul 17, 2019

Show notes

This week we review a critical vulnerability in the Ad Inserter plugin, currently installed on over 200,000 WordPress sites. The vulnerability, discovered by our Director of Threat Intelligence Sean Murphy, was patched quickly by the developer. We also cover Google's decision to remove Chrome's built-in XSS protection, a researcher's discovery of vulnerability in Instagram's 2FA, updates to the Gutenberg editor and hackers that created an Android app that can kill to prove a point amongst other stories.

Episode 29: iThemes Security Creator Chris Wiegman on Flying, Plugins & Developer Tools Jul 12, 2019

Show notes

At WordCamp Atlanta, Mark sat down with Chris Wiegman, the creator of Better WP Security. Now known as iThemes Security, it is installed on over 900,000 WordPress sites. Chris talks about his experiences as a flight captain flying over the Hawaiian islands and what happened when an earthquake occurred shortly after takeoff. He also talks about why he created Better WP Security, the process of selling the plugin to iThemes and the tools he's created in his new role at WP Engine. He describes his move from iThemes to WP Engine as "the move I didn't know I needed to make."

Episode 28: Zoom Zero-Day Vulnerability, WP Engine Buys Flywheel, and Other News Jul 09, 2019

Show notes

A security researcher found vulnerabilities in the Mac client for Zoom, a popular video conferencing application. After 90 days and two weeks, the vulnerability still exists. Mitigating the vulnerability entails typing the following commands in terminal, replacing [pid] with the process ID:

$> lsof -i :19421 $> kill -9 [pid] $> rm -rf ~/.zoomus $> touch ~/.zoomus

Wordfence Threat Analyst Mikey Veenstra also verified that the Linux client for Zoom also will turn video on automatically, but was not susceptible to reinstall if the client had been removed.

We also cover the WP Engine acquisition of Flywheel, cPanel's new pricing structure and what it means for hosting providers, removal of caps on .org domain names, critical security vulnerabilities in Magento, WP Statistics XSS vulnerability, a hacked ad server pushing out SEON ransomware, British Airways landmark GDPR fine, breaches and leaks of the week, amongst many other stories.

Here are approximate timestamps in case you want to jump around:

1:30 Zoom Zero Day Vulnerability 10:12 WP Engine Acquires Flywheel 19:45 cPanel pricing structure changes 23:02 .org pricing caps removed 28:30 Magento vulnerabilities 32:15 XSS Vulnerabilities in WP Statistics 35:30 Ad server hacked, serving ransomware 38:00 YouTube 40:18 British Airways GDPR Fine 42:00 Breaches of the week: MongoDB leak and leaky S3 buckets 44:50 Ruby Gem "strong_password" supply chain attack

Episode 27: Liquid Web COO Carrie Wheeler talks Leadership & Transitioning from Tech Jul 05, 2019

Show notes

Liquid Web COO Carrie Wheeler chatted with Mark at WordCamp Atlanta about her path from developer to leadership in the tech field. She talks about the three things all people look for in their jobs and how to provide context so they feel connected to an organization's mission. She also talks about the competitive hosting space and how Liquid Web positions themselves for success. You can connect with Carrie on LinkedIn or at liquidweb.com.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Think Like a Hacker with Wordfence

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected