{"id":1663,"date":"2017-10-12T21:31:29","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T18:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2017.sofia.wordcamp.org\/?p=1663"},"modified":"2017-10-12T21:33:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T18:33:43","slug":"wcsof17-introducing-brecht-ryckaert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wcsof17-introducing-brecht-ryckaert\/","title":{"rendered":"WordCamp Sofia 2017 speakers: Introducing Brecht Ryckaert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Meet Brecht &#8211;\u00a0a WordPress enthusiast, IT-engineer, speaker and author. He\u2019s lucky to have an amazing girlfriend and a wonderful daughter and he loves his whisky from time to time. Brecht published his first book in 2014 on the topic of WordPress security, titled &#8222;WordPress Security 101 &#8211; How to secure your WordPress site against hackers&#8220; and he\u2019s currently working on a second one.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1664\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wcsof17-introducing-brecht-ryckaert\/brecht\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?fit=5760%2C3840&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"5760,3840\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"brecht\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1664\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2017.sofia.wordcamp.org\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?resize=1180%2C787&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1180\" height=\"787\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?w=5760&amp;ssl=1 5760w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?resize=450%2C300&amp;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?w=2360&amp;ssl=1 2360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?w=3540&amp;ssl=1 3540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1180px) 100vw, 1180px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Brecht has prepared some practical WordPress security tips for his talk,\u00a0<a class=\"wcpt-session-title\" href=\"https:\/\/2017.sofia.wordcamp.org\/session\/wordpress-security-top-down-approach\/\">WordPress Security \u2013 Top Down Approach<\/a>\u00a0where he&#8217;ll share with us some insights on how to secure our WordPress instances.<\/p>\n<p>To understand what sparked Brecht&#8217;s interest towards WordPress and why security is as important as any other aspect of WordPress, check his video:<\/p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_1tv0xZs95Q?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=bg-BG&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<hr \/>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Hey Brecht, please introduce yourself.<\/strong><br \/>\nMy name is Brecht Ryckaert and I was born back in &#8217;84 in Ghent, Belgium. I still work in that lovely city. If anyone of you guys decide to visit Belgium and Ghent, give me a message on Twitter. I&#8217;d be happy to show Ghent to other WordPressians.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your specialty?<br \/>\n<\/strong>I&#8217;ve been using WordPress since version 1.5, but over the years I&#8217;ve specialized in security, optimization and problem solving. This came through nearly 10 years of working at a Belgian hosting company (<a href=\"http:\/\/combell.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">combell.com<\/a>) where I am the go-to engineer for WordPress. I&#8217;ve been helping our customers to clean their sites after hacking, increasing their security and increasing their site&#8217;s performance. In 2014, I published my first ebook on WordPress Security (&#8222;WordPress Security 101 &#8211; How to secure your WordPress site against hackers&#8220;). I&#8217;m currently working on a rewrite which I hope to get ready before the beginning of November.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many languages do you speak?<\/strong><br \/>\nI speak a couple of languages: Dutch (my native language), English and French. I also have very basic notions of German, but I&#8217;m not fluent in it. I write in English.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was your first encounter with WordPress?<br \/>\n<\/strong>I was looking for an easy way to start a small website\/blog. I tried several of the content management systems out there, but none felt as natural and logical as WordPress. So I kept on using WordPress for all sites I&#8217;ve built since then. When I started working at Combell in 2008, I immediately specialized in WordPress (and kept on doing it up to today).<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the best WordPress advice you have ever received?<br \/>\n<\/strong>There&#8217;s actually 2 pieces of advice I&#8217;d love to share:<\/p>\n<p>&#8222;Go to conferences\/meetups\/translation day\/&#8230;&#8220;<br \/>\nThis way you&#8217;ll get to know your local WordPress enthousiasts. It&#8217;ll help you grow your network of people you can help or get help from. They&#8217;ll gladly share their experiences and might offer you a new take on any issue you might struggle with. It&#8217;s great to dive into the community and contribute to it.<\/p>\n<div>&#8222;Get your message out there&#8220;<\/div>\n<div>I didn&#8217;t consider myself someone who would be able to present a talk at WordCamps. But following some inspiring words by a couple of speakers I&#8217;ve gotten to know, I took a chance and have been presenting since then. If you&#8217;re someone that hasn&#8217;t presented yet, go for it. The WordPress community is one of the most accepting communities I know. And that&#8217;s a great feeling.<\/div>\n<p><strong>What is your motivation to speak at WordCamp Sofia 2017?<\/strong><br \/>\nSharing. I&#8217;m not a die hard developer, though I&#8217;m hoping to become one someday. But I am nowhere near writing a core patch or complex plugin. So the most logical way for me to contribute is to share my knowledge on topics I know.<\/p>\n<div><strong>How did you you choose the topic of your talk?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>That&#8217;s easy. Security is something I&#8217;m very passionate about. If my talk helps one person to keep his or her site secure and hack-free, I&#8217;m happy. That&#8217;s why I get out there and present on security.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>How many countries have you been to?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>I&#8217;ve travelled to 6 countries so far. Bulgaria is about to become number 7 on my list.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong>Want to make sure you don&#8217;t miss all these insights? Get <a href=\"https:\/\/2017.sofia.wordcamp.org\/tickets\/\">your ticket<\/a>\u00a0for WordCamp Sofia 2017 today!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet Brecht &#8211;\u00a0a WordPress enthusiast, IT-engineer, speaker and author. He\u2019s lucky to have an amazing girlfriend and a wonderful daughter and he loves his whisky from time to time. Brecht published his first book in 2014 on the topic of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wcsof17-introducing-brecht-ryckaert\/\">\u041f\u0440\u043e\u0447\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0442\u0435 \u043e\u0449\u0435 <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">WordCamp Sofia 2017 speakers: Introducing Brecht Ryckaert<\/span>  <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15101971,"featured_media":1664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,35983,536220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-35983","category-536220"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/files\/2017\/10\/brecht.jpg?fit=5760%2C3840&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8EhTc-qP","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15101971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1663"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1700,"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions\/1700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sofia.wordcamp.org\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}