Think Like a Hacker with Wordfence

Latest Episodes:

Episode 65: WordCamp Asia Cancellation Prompts Community Support Feb 15, 2020

Show notes

WordCamp Asia was cancelled this week due to concerns of COVID-19/coronavirus in the region. This week, Wordfence CEO Mark Maunder talks about the decision to offer the WordCamp Asia Cancellation Fee Assistance Package to attendees, volunteers, organizers, and speakers that had planned to travel to this inaugural regional WordCamp. We also cover a number of WordPress plugin vulnerabilities disclosed this week and over 500 malicious Chrome extensions removed from the Chrome Web Store affecting millions of browsers worldwide.

Episode 64: Backdoors, Webshells, and the Growing Risks of Leaks & Breaches Feb 07, 2020

Show notes

We take a look at the annual hacked site report from GoDaddy's Sucuri Security and the types of malware they found in various CMS and shopping cart applications. Microsoft reports they're finding 77,000 webshells daily, and WP Scan's roundup lists a number of popular plugins and themes with recent vulnerabilities. A report from students at Harvard University exposes the growing risks of online leaks & breaches.

Episode 63: Succeeding as a Remote Working Nomad with Chloe Chamberland Jan 30, 2020

Show notes

Chloe Chamberland never wanted to get into security, and yet in the last three years, she has emerged as one of our most effective and prolific threat researchers. Not only does she find vulnerabilities in numerous popular plugins, she also travels the world while doing so. Chloe talked to me from a cabin in a remote area of Alaska, where she saw a moose for the first time. Chloe talks about how she got started in security and gives advice for young people who think they might enjoy security research. She also tells us why she loves speaking at WordCamps, the scariest vulnerability she's discovered, and also tells us she's working with more developers to make their code secure.

In the news, I cover some recent WordPress plugin vulnerabilities, why cloud firewalls can be bypassed, and what site owners might need to watch for in Google Chrome's upcoming SameSite cookie changes.

Think Like a Hacker: Changes Coming, 3 Critical Plugin Vulnerabilities Jan 17, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to 2020! We're making some changes to Think Like a Hacker and wanted to let you know. We're moving to an audio-only version of the podcast, publishing twice per month. We also wanted to let you know about 3 major vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins potentially affecting over 400,000 WordPress installations. Details are on the Wordfence blog as well.

Episode 62: 2019 Think Like a Hacker Highlights Dec 20, 2019

Show notes

We've had quite a year with Think Like a Hacker, the podcast about WordPress, security and innovation. For the end of year episode, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at a few of our favorite interviews and news stories. For episode 62, we review conversations with Josepha Haden, Brandy Lawson, Jennifer Bourn, Matt Cromwell, and we look back at the Pipdig story that created a furor earlier this year. Thank you to everyone who sat down with us over the first year of Think Like a Hacker, and thank you to our audience for listening, commenting, and helping Think Like a Hacker become what it is. We have big plans for 2020, and we hope you join us. Happy holidays to everyone celebrating, and we'll see you in 2020.

Here are timestamps if you'd like to jump around: 0:55 Josepha Haden on how she got involved with WordPress 1:59 Jon Brown talks about managing a remote team 3:50 Verious Smith's entrepreneurship journey 5:40 the Pipdig story with Mikey Veenstra 6:53 Ryan Dewhurst on the WP Vulnerability Database 7:44 Brandy Lawson talks about entrepreneurship 8:42 WordPress core and signing core updates 10:19 Matt Cromwell on why open source community matters 11:37 Jennifer Bourn on the benefits of young people in WordPress 13:03 Marieke van de Rakt on Yoast Academy 14:00 Think Like a Hacker at WordCamp US

Episode 61: Improving Website User Experiences with Dave Ryan Dec 18, 2019

Show notes

With Google Chrome experimenting with a badge of shame for websites that load slowly in Chrome, there is a new urgency for high performance interfaces for web users. Gatsby, Gridsome and other static site interfaces are hot in the development community right now, especially when talking about headless WordPress. At WordCamp US, Mark chats with Dave Ryan about these technologies, reminding us that no matter the technology we use to create a website, our decisions during development matter to the end users' experience.

Episode 60: Top WordPress Influencer Lists & Chrome Password Security Improvements Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

A small furor erupted over a top influencers in WordPress list that neglected to show the diverse nature of the WordPress community. We talk about the impossibility of making an accurate list that reflects the true nature of WordPress influence or contribution, and the diversity we saw during our work on Open, our film project about the WordPress community. We also talk about Google plans to give slow websites a new badge of shame in Chrome, password security updates in Chrome 79, and the DHS reconsiders a plan to use facial-recognition technology on all U.S. citizens traveling internationally.

Episode 59: Mailpoet's Kim Gjerstad on Beating Spammers and Improving Net Promoter Scores Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

Kim Gjerstad, one of the founders of Mailpoet, visited with Mark at the Wordfence booth at WordCamp US. Kim and Mark talked about the origins of Mailpoet, the plugin that gives users a full email management system within the WordPress administrative dashboard. They talk about email deliverability as well as the challenges of fighting email abuse, a constant battle that Mailpoet is winning. They also talk about net promoter scores and what it means for the success of a SaaS business.

Episode 58: Leadership and the Business of WordPress Plugins: Lessons from the Yoast Black Friday Ad Dec 06, 2019

Show notes

Yoast, the SEO plugin installed on 9 million WordPress sites, ran a Black Friday sale, experimenting with an ad in the WordPress admin dashboard. The internet furor was dramatic, and Yoast's CEO Marieke van de Rakt took ownership, showing exceptional leadership. We discuss the ad and the response from both users and competitors and the challenges of running a plugin business under a freemium model. We also cover stories about AVG and Avast browser extensions, the Magento Marketplace hack, the private equity purchase of .org and a data leak affecting 1.2 billion people.

Episode 57: SEO Content Strategy and Lock Picking with Maddy Osman at WordCamp US Nov 22, 2019

Show notes

Maddy Osman is a SEO content strategist that has worked with a number of familiar brands in both the WordPress and SaaS spaces. She spoke at WordCamp US and took some time to chat with us at the Wordfence sponsor booth. Maddy talks about how she got started in SEO content strategy after doing web design and development, and also what the entrepreneurial journey has been like for her. Maddy also shows off some of her lock picking skills she picked up while hanging out at the Wordfence booth.

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