How to Evaluate WordPress Plugins Before Activating

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@cwpnolen @emagineusa@WordPressRI #RIWP

WordPress RI Meetup

Evaluating PluginsHow to decide if a plugin is right for your site

Who Am I?Christian Nolen

Technical Director for emagine WordPress Developer

@cwpnolen

@cwpnolen @emagineusa@WordPressRI #RIWP

@cwpnolen @emagineusa@WordPressRI #RIWP

Big Thank You to WordPress RI Meetup

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Why?

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WordPress plugins are bits of software that can be uploaded to extend and expand the functionality

of your WordPress site.

iThemes

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22% of Hacked Sites are from poorly coded plugins

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• Decreased Performance • Broken Layout • White Screen of Death (WSOD) • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) • SQL Injection • Arbitrary File Download • Broken Authentication • Denial of Service (DoS)

Potential Problems

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Plugins aren’t bad some are just coded that way

Jessica Rabbit

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JetPack Yoast SEO

NinjaForms EWWW Image Optimizer

WP Mobile Detector

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Why?

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Non-Developer Stepsfor evaluating plugins

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1 Track Pros & Cons

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2What’s the Rating?

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3 Is it Maintained?

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4 Is there Support?

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5 Check for Vulnerabilities

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https://wpvulndb.com

WPScan Vulnerability Database

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6 Test Plugin on a Staging Site

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7 Benchmark Performance

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• Keep your plugins (themes and core) up-to-date

• Audit your plugins on a monthly basis.

• Subscribe to wpvulndb.com & other like services

• Get rid of un-used plugins • Backup your site nightly

Moving Forward

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Resources• WPScan Vulnerability Database - https://wpvulndb.com/ • Plugins A-Z Podcast - http://wppluginsatoz.com/ • Importance of Updating - https://sucuri.net/website-

security/website-hacked-report • How WP Sites Get Hacked - http://torquemag.io/2016/03/

wordpress-sites-hacked/

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Resources: Part Deux• Compare Plugins - https://managewp.org/plugins/compare • Site Speed - https://gtmetrix.com/ • Site Speed - http://www.webpagetest.org/ • Security Scanner - https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/ • Wordfence Email List - https://www.wordfence.com/

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Questions?

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WordPress RI Meetup

Thank You