Hacked Off – Digital People of Peterborough

Tim Nash, 34SP.com WordPress Platform Lead and Developer Advocate is once again on the road, today with a trip to Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.  He is speaking at Digital People in Peterborough (DPiP), an informal group of technologists, bloggers, developers and designers at their free monthly evening event.

By request Tim will be covering one of his favourite themes, WordPress security, reviving his well received WordCamp London talk, Hacked Off.

As it’s May the 4th, Tim couldn’t resist a nod to Star Wars, so join him as he retells the unlikely tale of WordPress in the Star Wars universe and how the Empire really does need to keep better backups.

Before Tim headed off we asked him a few questions about what he hoped people would get out of his talks and if he had a single message.

“BACK UP! I can’t stress this enough.  At 34SP.com we take backups for you but you shouldn’t just rely on our backups, take your own.

Take them regularly. If you are taking backups hourly, that’s a little overzealous but I like it, and potentially makes sense if you run an e-commerce store and are just backing up your database.  Daily backups are probably practical for most people and provide a good balance of convenience and resource usage. Weekly or even less frequently and you don’t have so much backups as prayers.”

He went on to say that just taking backups is not enough.

“Have you ever tested your backup?  If you haven’t opened up the zip file and checked the contents, and ideally using it to restore on a clean site you don’t really know if your back up is of any use. Automated testing of backups is a bit of a holy grail and for most people, most of the time not something they need. That said, regularly checking your backups actually contain files you expect and at least once using your backup to restore your site is a good idea and offers you peace of mind.”

This is where having a staging site is incredibly useful.  You can use it as a place to restore a backup you have taken to check it works before safely storing that backup away from your site.

He also had this advice for those whose sites have been hacked:

“Don’t panic, you are not alone. Thousands of sites are hacked every day and whilst it is damaging and distressing, it’s not the end of the world. People and sites recover, it just takes time and patience. Finally remember you’re not alone, your hosting company will often be in a great position to help you and there are dedicated security companies out there who can help get you back on your feet.”

DPiP is a monthly meetup in Peterborough, for anyone working or interested in the digital industry.  They have talks on everything from Social Media and WordPress to finding a job and World Domination (Minecraft). You can find out more about the group and their regular meetings, workshops and other events at http://mydpip.com/

If Tim’s talks terrify you, don’t worry; we have you covered.  34SP.com’s WordPress Hosting platform has been designed with security built in to give you peace of mind. You can find more information about how our WordPress Hosting platform protects you from many of today’s threats at https://www.34sp.com/wordpress-hosting