Did you know plugin vulnerabilities represent 60% of the known entry points for website attacks? Learn how Smart Plugin Manager uses machine learning & visual regression testing to automate plugin updates and keep your site secure. Bonus: get a preview of exciting platform enhancements launching in the next coming months.

1. PRODUCT OPTIMIZE BREAKOUT

2. The Future is Now!
Leveraging Machine
Learning To Automate
Plugin Updates + Secure
Your Sites
Senior Product Manager, WP Engine
Annan Patel
PRODUCT OPTIMIZE BREAKOUT

3. Annan Patel
Senior Product Manager, WP Engine

4. Managing your plugins.

5. Plugins at WP Engine by the numbers.
Average number of plugins on
a WP Engine site
Plugin vulnerabilities in the
last six months
§Average minutes customers spend
updating plugins manually
16 251 8

6. WP Engine protects at scale.
Plugin updates automated by
WP Engine
Screenshots taken over the
last 6 months
16 251

7. What we heard from customers.
I'd gladly pay extra per month,
per site to know that you're
keeping all my plugins up-to-
date because every plug-in
that's not up to date is an
exposure, right?
I don't trust the WordPress
plugin ecosystem. I believe it's
a necessary evil. I don’t feel
there is enough rigor in a lot of
the 3rd party plugins, in terms
of the way that they get
security around them.

8. Our solution.

9. Smart Plugin
Manager.
§ Automatically updates
Plugins
§ Delivers success criteria with
visual testing
§ Sites rollback if success
criteria fails to keep sites
secure

10. Why visual
regression
testing?
Some visual changes can be
difficult to identify:
§ Broken or misplaced CTAs and
forms means a broken site!
§ Small pixel changes can
dramatically alter a site’s
experience
It’s not reasonable and is too
costly for a human to:
§ Identify all possible visual changes
on a site
§ Check multiple pages of a website

11. How we use
visual
regression
testing.
How it works
1. We take a screenshot
immediately before and
immediately after updates
2. Pixel-by-pixel comparison to
identify areas of change
3. Machine learning-based model to
classify visual changes as
“significant” or ”insignificant”
Significant Change Insignificant Change

12. What’s New?

13. Improved
visual
verification.
Investing in our visual testing
§ Higher accuracy in identifying
visual changes
§ Better classification of animations
and dynamic content
§ Faster plugin updates!
OldScreenshotEngineNewScreenshotEngine
Screenshot #1 Screenshot #2

14. Revamped
user
experience.
§ Guided “Getting Started”
experience to configure your
site(s)
§ Configure settings for one,
dozens, or hundreds of sites
with a few clicks
§ Manage Smart Plugin
Manager directly in WP
Engine’s user portal
Intuitive onboarding and
bulk site management

15. Customer-
inspired
features.
§ Weekly update frequency, in
addition to daily updates
§ Support for custom plugins
hosted in private Git repos
§ Checks for SEO tag changes
after updates
Adapting to our
customers’ needs

16. Looking ahead.

17. Looking ahead.
What’s coming next for Smart Plugin Manager
Usability & User
Experience
More visibility and insights
Visual Regression Testing
Enhancements
Smarter identification of changes
Agency-Focused
Capabilities
Features to Empower Agencies
• Update results + visual comparisons in user
portal
• Historic update data + insights about your
plugins
• Visibility into when your next updates will
occur + plugins that will be updated
• More investment in site element
identification
• Faster verification = less maintenance time
• Customization options to check (or not
check) specific visual changes
• Client-facing reporting
• More granular update windows
• Comprehensive multiple site, bulk plugin
management

18. Now included
with Premium
plans!
Available now for existing
customers!
§ One managed site for all WP
Engine Premium plans
§ Available in perpetuity
§ Unrestricted and fully functional!
Try it for free, for life!

19. Thank you.
Senior Product Manager, WP Engine
Annan Patel