Thomas Raef

In WP Legends Episode 128, Thomas Raef, Owner of WeWatchYourWebsite, shares his journey from programming in the early 1970s to building one of the most deeply informed website security platforms in the WordPress ecosystem. From the IBM PC era and the Melissa virus to modern malware detection, Thomas explains how his obsession with root cause analysis, automation, and proactive defense shaped decades of work protecting websites at scale.

We dive into how WeWatchYourWebsite evolved from early security appliances into a real-time website monitoring platform, why hackers increasingly target authentication rather than core vulnerabilities, and how Thomas trained a purpose-built AI malware engine on hundreds of thousands of malware samples. The conversation also explores why WordPress is safer today despite facing more attacks than ever, why server-level protection matters more than plugin-level scanning, and what hosting companies should be doing when infected sites are used to attack others.