WordCamp Phoenix was held a couple of weeks ago and it is great to spend two full days with other WordPress users of all levels. One of the speakers that always delivers great content is Aaron Campbell. His main job is working on the security of the core WordPress software and he has a real knack for explaining complex security issues in an easy-to-understand way.

His talk at the most recent WordCamp was titled “Why the Open Web Matters” and he gets his point across by talking about video games and tractors. Yes, tractors! You can watch the entire session on WordPress.tv or I have embedded it below.

Want to know more about why farmers are hacking their tractors? Read Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware. A followup documentary about the tractor hacking was recently released at Tractor Hacking: Watch Our Documentary About Farmers Fighting for the Right to Repair.

This is not a problem specific to tractors. It also affects the fastest production car ever made. The only way to maintain that car is with a specific Compaq computer from the early 90s. Read McLaren needs a 20-year-old Compaq laptop to maintain its F1 supercar for the details.

Cleaning Up a Hacked Site

While there are many things you can do to protect Web sites, the hackers won’t stop trying. If you don’t have good protection, the hackers are far more likely to succeed in hacking your site. Should your site get hacked, you’ll need to get it cleaned.

Sucuri is one of the leading providers of Web security and they have authored detailed steps for How to Clean a Hacked Website. There are separate instructions for WordPress, Joomla, Magento and Drupal sites.

We’d love to help protect your site so the likelihood of getting hacked is minimized. Please consider one of our WordPress Maintenance Plans. They are a small investment into keeping your site working hard for you!

Photo by Gozha Net