Oh Please, Dont Tell Me I Need To Learn This

 80 Comments on Oh Please, Dont Tell Me I Need To Learn This 0 816

Before you spend your time reading this post, I will warn you, we’re discussing a topic many bloggers prefer not to think about. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you want to read this post, or just move on.

You see, we’re talking about making our blogs, “our babies”, safe and secure.

Continue reading, or not….

*******


I can still remember when I crashed my blogs.

I stared at the error message on the screen and got sick to my stomach.

Being new to blogging, I didn’t know what to do so I kept refreshing the page thinking it would correct itself.

It didn’t.

In all honesty, I knew it was what I had done behind the scenes that created that error. I “thought” I knew what I was doing.

I didn’t.

Today’s Lesson

It’s one thing when we mess around behind the scenes and crash our blogs. We know who to blame. We know what we did. And we know we can either reverse what we did or call someone and have them fix it.

But, what happens if someone else does that to us?

What happens if someone hacks our blog?

That’s different as we don’t know what “they” did, nor do we necessarily know how to fix “it”.

Hackers will hack any ‘ole blog, because they can. No blog is exempt. Not mine, not yours, not anyone’s.

When his wife’s online jewelry site was hacked and her monthly sales dropped from $1000 to zero, John Hoff of WP Blog Host made it his mission to learn everything about hackers; how they think, how they hack and most importantly, how to secure a WordPress blog against them. With Lindsey”s site being her “baby”, and her online income helping to support their family, John vowed he would never let that happen again. Not to Lindsey. Not to him. Not to you.

John spent months studying everything he could find. As he learned, he documented his findings.

It is from the knowledge he gained and the lessons John learned, how the “WORDPRESS DEFENDER” ebook was born.

This 150 page guide is like no other. John includes hints, tips, tweaks and plugins we can use to secure out site, all written in an easy to understand language. To make things even easier, he includes 14 step-by-step bonus videos to keep those hackers at bay.

An example of the topics he covers include such things as

  1. How to easily back up all of your files
  2. WordPress upgrades and how to deal with them
  3. Picking, protecting and managing your passwords
  4. The truth about plugins
  5. The best form of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to use
  6. Login lock downs and firewalls
  7. Writing and using a .htacess file
  8. How intruders find blogs to hack via search engines
  9. What a hack might look like
  10. Plus much more

Although this security guide and videos will set you back $39, it’s a small price to pay when we consider the alternative.

When I crashed my blogs, I lost a day getting my blog back online. When Lindsey’s blog was hacked, it took John, who knows what he’s doing, nearly a week (in his free time) just to figure out where the hack was located. From there, he recreated the site, but before it could be reactivated, he also needed to reload all of the products onto the newly rebuilt site. In the meantime, Lindsey’s page rank plummeted to zero, as did her sales.

Many of us bloggers prefer not to even think about our blog being hacked, let alone having to learn how to secure it. But as our blogs grow, and our traffic and page rank increases,  it becomes imperative we either learn to protect our investment, or hire someone to do it for us.

Like many of you, this is an area I also avoid, but with the “WORDPRESS DEFENDER” in my library, I know my blogs will soon be safe, secure and locked down.

For all the work John has done on the ebook and videos, I’ll be forever grateful.

Thank you, John.

Today’s Assignment

Have you ever crashed or had your blog hacked? If so, how did you get it back up and running?

If not, how do you think you would react?

If you’re not a WordPress blogger, how do you secure your blog?

And finally, how often are you backing up your database and/or files? (You are doing backups, right?)

Care to share?

signature for blog post.

As a final note. When John emailed this book and video series to me, I told him I’d take a look at it, but wouldn’t commit to an endorsement as I feel the best way to find what works for each of us is to be a smart, informed consumer. However, this book and video series far exceeded my expectations. In fact, when I opened it and started reading, I sent John an email which in part said,

HOLY CRAP! [excuse the language]

I was just reading/skimming your ebook. It’s phenomenal, and I haven’t even gotten to the videos.

All I can say is WOW! WOW! WOW!

P.S.S. Although the links to WordPress Defender are affiliate links, I would have no problem endorsing this book for free. For all you WordPress bloggers out there, why not buy the book, use some of the hints and tips to begin securing your blog, sign up to become an affiliate, and write a review on your site. With just a few sales, you will have earned the cost of the book back. How cool is that?

80 thoughts on “Oh Please, Dont Tell Me I Need To Learn This”

  1. Hi Barbara – As you know, I’m a John Hoff Evangelist ™, too. And yes, our wonderful relationship started on Cath Lawson’s recommendation, after he helped her when her blog was hacked. I wanted a “real person” to deal with, so when our hosting renewal came around we went with John.

    Good thing, too. In a matter of days, I was fooling around and managed to completely wipe out PassingThru, as I’ve told anyone who would listen many more times than they wanted to hear. John retrieved everything from the electronic frontier as if by magic. Since that fateful time, our customer experience with John has felt like he cares as much about PassingThru as we do. Those are the kind of relationships I value and seek.

    John’s skills and ethics are such that I am constantly recommending him. If you’re blogging, you need him on your team. WordPress Defender is a great way to get started with that for an insanely small amount of money. Great review.
    .-= Check out Betsy Wuebker´s awesome post: What I Should Have Said =-.

    2. Thank you Betsy,

      Yes. John does care about his clients. That’s good to see, especially online when we’re not always certain whom we’re dealing with.

      I remember when Cath’s blog was hacked and John came to the rescue. He’s like Superman! Hmmmm! I wonder if he wears a cape, too?

      Do you John?

  2. I met John here in your comment boxes, and it was here that I first read about blogs being hacked. Not long after that, my server took my blog down and I was bereft . But even after sorting it out, I still put off doing something to protect my baby bloggling. When I found a review of the book over at Davina’s, I bought it right there and then. Ironically, I lost my coach certification blog just ten minutes after I downloaded John’s ebook. My husband and I were exhausted and accidentally deleted the index file while we were at the server making some changes. We’re going to devour this ebook and do the work this weekend.

    Thanks Barbara, John and Davina. I bought this book because of the trust you’ve engendered.
    .-= Check out janice´s awesome post: Writers Write (Revisited): Your Comments are Part of Your Writing Mosaic =-.

    1. Janice, oh that really sucks. Did you contact your web host? They might be able to do a restore. Some hosts charge for it, for others it’s free.

      Not that this was your case, but many times bloggers forget that a full backup will include not only your database, but also your web hosting files.

      I use a program called SyncBackSE which will automatically back up my hosting files for me (as long as my computer is on). It’s a pretty neat little program.
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

      1. The contact we’ve had with the web host so far sucks. The folk we’ve spoken to have been clueless themselves about the meaning of the vague error numbers that come up, or so knowledgeable they assume that everyone else is too, and that we’re morons if we don’t understand everything.

        I learn more from personal contact in blogs like this and in well written helpful ebooks and forum posts than I do when I phone for help or press HELP buttons. Thanks!
        .-= Check out janice´s awesome post: Writers Write (Revisited): Your Comments are Part of Your Writing Mosaic =-.

    2. Hi Janice,

      My heart goes out to you. I hope you get it fixed soon.

      When that happened to me (I deleted something I thought wasn’t important), my web host restored my site for me. I might also mention, one time I called and the tech guy “assumed” I knew exactly what to do and really made me feel stupid, so I just said “thank you” and called back. The next person walked me through the process, step by step.

    1. Hi Jan. The book doesn’t specifically mention AdSense, but it would help to avoid the issue by having stopped someone hack into your site and insert their own code.

      For example,

      Maybe someone got into your FTP account and uploaded their own embed code into your website. They might use an iframe (inline frame) to display their own website / AdSense on your site. They could even remove yours.

      Of course if your Google account gets hacked into, they could always change something like how you get paid or where the money goes. But in the book I talk about some best practices for maintaining multiple websites which require a login / password.
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

      1. Hi Jan and John,

        Thank you for raising this issue. I know many bloggers receive an income from ads and affiliate links, so it would be a real shame if their coding was hacked and all their work was for naught.

  4. Hi Barbara.
    Fantastic review of John’s book! I love how you broke things down and created a list of what John covers. I’ve been backing up my blog since day one. Heck, I put a lot of time and energy into the writing and so many readers spend their time leaving comments. I would hate to lose that.

    I have to echo Betsy’s comment and say that I too would recommend John. And this book is a steal at just $39.
    .-= Check out Davina´s awesome post: Just Glowing, That’s All =-.

    2. Thank you Davina,

      That’s so true. Backing up our blogs is very important. With all the work we put into them, plus the comments, we certainly would not want to start from scratch.

  5. Hi Barbara,

    To secure my blog from dictionary attack I use user locker plugin and I do backup my blog data regularly. Also I make some necessary tweak in my blog core file and also take backup of those tweaked files. I know I have to tweak it every time I update my blog version but it acceptable. For me internet is a good place to learn things if you have time, no need to buy any digital book for learning. Anyway, thanks for that book review.

    Arafat
    .-= Check out Arafat Hossain Piyada´s awesome post: Give Gmail a CRM(Customer relationship management) capability with Rapportive =-.

    1. Arafat, backups are definitely a necessity. Just make sure you have both your database and files backed up. Also, be sure to secure other aspects of your site other than for dictionary brute force attempts.

      Those guys are sneaky out there and are watching for key information sent through the Internet unencrypted or visible through Google.
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

    2. Forgot to mention about the ebook thing.

      True you can learn most anything over the Internet. In that regard, you probably would never need to buy a book again.

      What you’re really paying for in ebooks (or books) are two things:

      1. The author’s experience. You can learn a lot from people who have been there done that in a specific field and many times you can skip some of their mistakes by learning from their past experiences.

      2. Saves you time. It took me many months to learn what I know. You could learn it all online, but it takes time because many times you don’t even know what to look for. Once you learn about a problem, it’s only then you know that you need to research a way to fix it.

      It would surprise you how many people have the ability to use SSL encryption with their email accounts but they don’t use it because it’s unknown to them. You have to change your Port settings, etc.
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

      1. The good thing to me, once upon a time I was hacker however on that time I only hack adult websites but I change my mind because that not going to change anything also will took me in danger. I sometime attend under ground hacker forum with my old id and I always believe nothing can save a website if someone want to hack a site. A elite hacker with necessary skill, tools and group power can do this. You are right a book definitely save time, that’s why I mentioned if you have time then you can collect data from net, no need to buy a book. However, a person should know little bit of code knowledge if he want to tweak the core page but I hope your book will teach them how to tweak that core pages simply without learning new language, so that they don’t mess the things and that’s why a book sometime overpower internet resource because in internet people believe you have necessary knowledge when you read a resource.
        .-= Check out Arafat Hossain Piyada´s awesome post: How Big Google Is? How Many Company They Own? Should You Fear? =-.

        1. Arafat, you’re absolutely right. No amount of security you do to your site will protect it from someone who wants to hack your site and has the skills and means to do so.

          I know that by publishing a book like this I’m sticking myself out there for people to take a shot at me, but you know, someone once hacked my wife’s website and ruined her entire business. It literally broke her heart. It even got her discouraged to even deal with her online endeavors because of the whole issue. The person who did that didn’t care that we used the income from that site to help feed our two little boys and that we were living paycheck to paycheck.

          It was that moment that I felt a need to learn as much as I could (also in forums) and hopefully help many bloggers out there avoid the random hack jobs that are going on around the Internet.

          I applaud you for your good ethics and doing what is right.

          Question is, being that you’re an ex-hacker, is there anything you know which might help bloggers in this comment section better protect their blogs?
          .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

        2. One thing I must want to share, hacker able to hack a site because they know what script you are running. I’m not going to talk about DNS hacking, that’s another part. That mean if anyone able to trick the basic code that are responsible for database access then 80% hacker already out of the line. Still there is 20% but unless your site is much much big, that 20% never going to touch you because they don’t hack for fun and another one line security tips is, delete admin account after replacing it with another xyz name and never use that user id to write a content, use capability manager(plugin) to increase your own id capability and always hide the admin id as much as you try to hide personal secret.
          .-= Check out Arafat Hossain Piyada´s awesome post: North America has most internet users, Asian are on top ethnicity(infographic) =-.

    3. Hi Arafat,

      Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned, not only as a hacker, but as a blogger, yourself. I’m happy to hear you’ve decided hacking is not something you want to be associated with anymore.

      You are right with regard to digital books and if we know what to look for, all we have to do is search online.

      When I started blogging, I knew nothing, other than how to write. Back then (2007), most of the sites I found used language I couldn’t understand. I ended up spending many hours experimenting, making mistakes, and wasting a lot of time just trying to figure things out (I’m still learning). What I really like about John’s book and videos is how simple he makes it. Granted, those who are schooled in the techno language may say it’s too simple, but for myself, I find it fits my needs perfectly. What I also like is John is accessible for questions, which we don’t always see when we purchase something online.

      P.S. I’m enjoying this conversation between you and John. It’s like a blog post within a blog post. 🙂

        1. Yes SQL injection and the technique always improving but for employing this technique one have to learn the script well and that’s why I told modifying script code create a great firewall between blog and hacker. However, modifying code is not easy unless you know php and sql well and may be it sound bad but people like me usually not share this type of thing with others because we don’t want more people know about it. The more know about it, the weaker it goes actually. Another fact is most of the blogger don’t care about file and folder permission system on their server, modifying script won’t help someone unless they follow some basic security need.

  6. Hi Barbara,

    Fortunately for me my blog has never been hacked, but as you mention, just thinking of that makes me want to look somewhere else because of all the problems that it’ll be to get it back.

    I will definitely go for the book to learn how to protect my blog.

    Thank you for the info 🙂

    Raul
    .-= Check out Alien Ghost´s awesome post: Ads in Blogs =-.

    2. You’re welcome Raul,

      You know, even if you just begin with something small, like backing up your database and files, that’s a start. I know I find it all pretty overwhelming, but after reading John’s book and reviewing some of the videos, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable making small tweaks for now.

  8. My closest brush with being hacked is spam comments that come through my blog platform’s built in comment system. I recently installed intense debate to help combat this problem and to be able to offer my readers CommentLuv functionality.

    So far it seems to be working.

    1. Jeff Starr over at Digging Into WordPress has a great post where he shows us a nifty little blacklist of keywords you can either block or send instantly to your spam filter.

      Just make sure to go through it and remove or add words which you may or may not want to allow.

      Also, I’ve had very good success with the Tan Tan Noodles Comment spam plugin.
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

    2. Hi Joella,

      Those spam comments can be a headache. Having a good spam filter is important. The only thing I’ve found is sometimes a real comment will get dumped in the spam folder.

      When that happens and if I don’t catch it, I count on the blogger who commented to contact me and ask me to look for it. (Or tweet me).

  9. Right now I’m on Blogger, and while I do back up my template and content, I’m not doing anything else. Perhaps I should check into that. There may come a time when I decide to switch platforms so this is valuable information to have.

    1. Hi Linda,

      Thank you for mentioning Blogger. I’m curious if blogger blogs have the same security issues as WordPress. And if they do, is there a reliable resource you can use for locking down your blog?

  10. Hi Linda. Right now I’d say the most important things to start with for you are backups (like you said), keeping a good antivirus / firewall on your computer, and making sure you are using different passwords for all your online accounts.

    That home computer firewall and antivirus is important because if someone gets into your computer, they may just as well get into all your online accounts.

    And that wouldn’t be good.
    .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

  11. I have the book but for some reason I messed up on getting the videos too.

    I am attempting to get my IT to help me with this, because I am so unsure, and if she doesn’t then I will save my pennies and hire John…because this is an important issue to me – those are my words out there.

    I have learned how to back up my blog and do it regularly on my external drive….but I am not sure I am covering all the bases.

    This is creating a worry for me and a stress.
    I can’t even figure out how to turn off my Norton’s to install my Dragon Dictate which I got last December. Worry, worry, worry
    .-= Check out Patricia´s awesome post: Ecotopia ~ Ernest Callenbach, A Relook at an Inspiring Book =-.

    1. Hi Patricia. No worries about the videos. If for whatever reason you didn’t get them and you want them, just use my contact form on my contact John page and let me know you need the videos. I’ll make sure you get them.

      Tell you what, if you’d like me to do the upgrades, the normal price I charge is $75 but since you bought the book, I’ll discount it for you. Just let me know if you need the help.
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

    2. Hi Patricia,

      Good for you. John’s book will be a great resource for you.

      I hope you get the videos soon as I think you’ll find them super helpful. like the way he makes them step by step and we can pause and/or replay them until we get it right.

  12. This is great information to know. I haven’t thought about anyone hacking my site until recently. I’ve seen this topic on a few blogs over the past few weeks. Kind of gives you shivers to think about. I was told if you use a password generator giving you something like $^yP4o5@?a_= that it would take years of a hacker to get through. I don’t know for sure it’s just what I’ve heard.
    .-= Check out Tim´s awesome post: Vintage Salt Pepper Shaker Collecting =-.

    1. Tim, a password like that could take a trillion years to guess using a dictionary password cracking program. That is definitely good advice. You might want to use a program like RoboForm (Windows) or 1Password (Mac) to manage passwords like that for the many sites you’re on.

      Simply having a strong password is not enough. For example, you might have a strong password, but that’s useless if someone obtains your FTP info (even if the FTP has a strong password).
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

    2. Hi Tim,

      Great password. Maybe I’ll use that one. Just kidding. 🙂

      It is scary to think our blogs could get hacked, isn’t it? It’s one thing if we crash our own blogs, but if we’re hacked it would kind of be like having our home robbed.

  13. I’ve interacted with John a bit online. There is no one else I can think of whom I would trust to give us the best info possible on this.

    Thanks for the gentle reminder and for featuring John’s program.

    George
    .-= Check out George Angus´s awesome post: Read An E-Book Week =-.

    2. You’re welcome George,

      I agree. For anyone looking to learn about blog security or to hire someone to take care of theirs, John’s the man.

      I think we need to come up with a name for him. He’s like a super hero. Got any ideas?

  14. My blog has been hacked in a few ways before. One time it was an IFRAME inserted to a file in the WordPress theme. It tried to download a PDF file so that was easily detected. I scanned through my files and got rid of that.

    Another time was much trickier and I will get much more technical. The code was inserted into the database, so when I was just looking at PHP source files, I did not see them. And even when I looked at the source HTML of the generated pages, I did not see these changes. It was when I finally started using Webmaster Tools that I noticed that all the key words are along the lines of Xanax, casino, poker, etc. Fetching the code as Googlebot allowed me to show inserted code that I wouldn’t see in a regular browser, but does affect how Google sees it. The code was inserted into the database as a base64 encoded string, which will be impossible to spot unless I manually enter that into a decoder to see the decoded text. Finally I realized the problem and deleted the infected database entries.

    By this time, I was already quite buried in Google search results. It took me a few weeks after cleaning it to get back to the ranking I used to have. It was a hard lesson learned for keeping WordPress version up to date.
    .-= Check out Kelvin Kao´s awesome post: When a Gnome Meets a Wizard =-.

    1. Kelvin, that is a good example of how hard these things can be to find and also how someone out there can really hurt your blog / business.

      Glad you were able to get it fixed. You can use the WordPress Exploit Scanner to try and find hack code like base64.

      By the way, base64 and iframes are dead giveaways of hack jobs.
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

    2. Hi Kelvin,

      Your comment reminded me that you’re also a techie. How fortunate you were able to find the hacks yourself. That had to be a real learning experience, AND a headache, too.

      That’s the sad part, for all the work we put into gaining a good Google ranking, a hack could take it away from us in an instant.

  15. I crashed my blog once last spring and I can relate to that sick feeling. I had deleted everything when I was trying to repair a security issue. I though I backed up everything correctly, but apparently I didn’t. So much for backing up!

    I hired someone on scriptlance.com to get me up and running. I had an older backup of my blog that he was able to use to get me up and running again. The downside was I had to go though every single post and add the photos back in.

    I’m afraid to do anything now. I though I was doing the right thing and I still screwed it up. I don’t even trust myself when I back up my blog.
    .-= Check out Carla | Green and Chic´s awesome post: Green and Chic Blog, Ads or No Ads? =-.

    1. Hi Carla,

      I hear you. When we crash our blogs, we don’t quickly forget “that sick feeling”. And you’re right. It makes us very leery of trying it again.

      That had to have been VERY time consuming adding your photos back as you have a lot.

      One thing that has helped me is to use my test site to experiment before I add/delete anything from my live blogs. If I crash that site, that’s okay.

    2. Yes… I know the feeling. I’ve messed things up way back when which definitely gave me a learning curve.

      Here’s what I mention in the ebook which you can do to make sure you have a full backup.

      Use a program like SyncBackSE to backup your hosting files every once in a while and then also set up a database backup plugin to run on autopilot and email you a backup of your database once or twice a week.

      Doing those two things could really save you down the road in case something happens again.
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

  16. Yes! I think you are right! Sometimes, i am not willing to learn how to protect my blog because of laziness. However, after reading your article, i really wish to learn it. Thanks for reminding me! I really appreciate it. 🙂
    .-= Check out KS Chen´s awesome post: Use Google Adwords Keyword Tool for Keyword Research =-.

    1. You’re welcome Heather,

      That’s very true. Too often we concentrate only on what clients and/or readers can see, with no thought of what would happen if our blog crashed or was hacked. Preventive measures can easily help us avoid those problems.

  18. Barbara — I’m pleased that you are talking about this topic and letting people know about this important book. I purchased the book and think it’s a good resource to have.

    I have begun to implement some of John’s recommendations, such as backing up my personal computer. I also regularly scan and ensure that my scan programs are updated. I used to skip the updating reminders, which is a real NO-NO. I don’t do that anymore.

    Blogging requires a unique mix of skills – technical knowledge, design and writing, as well as the etiquette of being a blogger. Given this, I appreciate you, John and the many other bloggers who give such helpful advice about blogging:~)
    .-= Check out Sara´s awesome post: The Nature of the Beast =-.

    1. Thank you Sara,

      You know that’s very true. Blogging is more than just writing. Although many of us wish we could just write and publish, if we’re not taking care of things behind the scenes, all of our hard work could be destroyed in a flash.

  19. Hi Barbara
    Great write up of John’s ebook.
    I have just bought a copy and agree with everything you say.
    John manages to tackle this highly technical area in a matter of fact way, which not only gives you the information you need but the confidence to use it.

    I might add that since purchasing the ebook, I’ve already received updates and additional information.

    I hope that this venture goes well for John… he really is one of the web’s good guys.
    .-= Check out Keith Davis´s awesome post: A helping hand… =-.

    1. Thank you Keith,

      I agree. John is one of the good guys and has done a fabulous job with this book. Like you mentioned, the way he wrote it gives us who are not techie, the confidence to make changes which will protect our blogs.

      P.S. I predict John will do fabulous with this book. I see it as a “must have” for all WordPress bloggers.

  20. Hi Barbara! Well you KNOW what a tech-challenged person I am – I know hubs has some back up thingy that does it thing and we have a good firewall. I’m on Blogger. So – in total – I know we have some backup and firewall. That is ALL I know. Of course you know this whole hack thing strikes terror in my heart. But my blog isn’t a source of income, fortunately.
    .-= Check out suzen´s awesome post: How SWEET it is! =-.

    1. Hi Suzen

      Yes. I know you prefer not to even think about this, so it’s a good thing your husband has “something” in place.

      Whether we blog for an income or not, for me, losing the comments I’ve received would break my heart.

  21. You said crap!! 🙂

    This cannot be told enough, Barbara, and you did it so beautifully.

    I feel this WordPress Defender is a gift. I have implemented a few of the procedures, but not all yet.

    Yes, I did one time think my blog had crashed but it was just a server glitch. Temporary. That 20 minutes was pure terror for me.

    People, please don’t put off WordPress blog security. And do it with John Hoff’s program!

    1. Thank you Jannie,

      Isn’t that a heart stopper? Whether it’s a server issue, a hack or something we did, now having our blog react the way we’re used to, can be very terrifying.

      I’m with you. John’s program is the perfect way to secure our blogs.

  22. I use a backup plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/ that is FANTASTIC. I have it set to email me a copy of the database every week, although I could have more or less often, or only when I want.

    I recently moved domains and used the backup to reinstall to the new site – thank goodness for that because my exported blog had deleted half my posts!

    I bought Blog Defender a few weeks ago and agree with you, it’s brilliant!
    .-= Check out Melinda | SuperWAHM´s awesome post: Why a Business Plan Will Save Your A$$ =-.

    2. Hi Melinda,

      I just started using the WordPress Database plugin a few weeks ago and love how we can set it to email us with a copy each week (or more often if we desire). Just doing that gives me a tiny sense of security, but once I start adding the things John talks about in his book, I’ll feel even more confident my blog is safe.

      How fortunate you were to have your backups available when you were missing half of your posts. That had to be a huge relief.

  23. Hi Barbara and John .. great place to come back to if something goes wrong. I bought your book last week I guess .. and will get to the detail and read through when I have a chance – obviously a key thing .. is to find a key person locally who can help should things go wrong .. and that is a tricky question! I hope I’ve found one – to help with the techie side .. and answer my questions and teach me some of the techie bits – it’s a bit like a builder – I like toknow how it should be built .. and then I can see if the builder is doing it correctly or the way I intend it to be made – it’s have some degree of technical overview knowledge that can be so useful. Have good weekends ..
    .-= Check out Hilary´s awesome post: Women – how much education have women had in the past 2,000 years? =-.

    2. Hi Hilary,

      You won’t be disappointed with the book. And the videos – they tell you step by step as John shows what to click on, etc. I know you’re really going to love it.

      I’m with you on wanting to know and to learn how. It’s one thing to have someone do something, but if we know what they did, then we can replicate it if need be.

      Happy weekend to you, too. 🙂

  24. I must admit that I roll the dice on this one. I do back up weekly so I could start over. But I’ve found that thinking about the possibility of disaster is just not a good move for me. I’d rather rebound when and if I have to. It’s just like insurance. The premiums are costly and how necessary is the insurance. We all have our own tolerance for risk.
    .-= Check out Tom Volkar / Delightful Work´s awesome post: Courageous Individuality =-.

    1. Hi Tom. Ah but the ebook doesn’t cost nearly as much as insurance and it’s also only a 1 time fee.

      You are definitely rolling the dice. Any and every blog out there is a target, especially the ones who don’t take precautions to make it more difficult to get into.

      The problem is, if it happens, you might not know how long you’ve been hacked. Also, you might find that much of the momentum you’ve built up on your blog through search engines will significantly go down if you get hacked really bad. My wife’s site went from a Page Rank 5 to a 1 in just over a month. The repercussions weren’t just fixing the site, it was losing money and causing customer insecurity in spending money with our “once hacked site” again.

      If you ever have any questions though, you know where to find me 🙂
      .-= Check out John Hoff – WP Blog Host´s awesome post: WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do =-.

    2. Hi Tom,

      One thing you have in your favor is you are doing backups. That would save some time if you ever had to recreate your sites.

      When I think of securing my blog, it’s not so much thinking about the possibility of disaster as it is like “preventive medicine”. You know, kind of like going in for annual checkups and knowing you have a clean bill of health.

  25. Yes indeed, just a couple months ago a plugin crashed me but good; not a hack but a crash is a crash.

    Luckily I host with Hostgator, where even on the weekend they deploy a real “johnny on the spot” service. About 30 minutes and $15 later I was up and running…well worth it. 🙂
    .-= Check out Dennis Edell´s awesome post: Do You Have a Good Website/Blog Designer? Meet CJ – My Awesome New Designer! =-.

    1. Hi Dennis,

      Wow! I’ve had plugins create error messages, but never crashing my blog. That had to be heartbreaking, and time consuming.

      You’re right. Having a good host can save the day for us. My host is what saved me when I crashed my blog, as well.

      I’m happy to hear you purchased the book. I know you’ll enjoy it and John is just a click away. Can’t beat that. 🙂

  26. Btw, I just bought the book and signed up for the newsletter, thanks. 😉
    .-= Check out Dennis Edell´s awesome post: UPDATED – $100 – 10 Winners – Comment Contest! ‘Till Months End… =-.

  27. Wow! What a stir your e-book has created John. Being really, really new to the blogging world I will probably invest in your book soon. I know. What am I waiting for? The next extra cash influx. Still in the infancy stage of making ANY $ online, but I keep moving forward.
    .-= Check out Lisa´s awesome post: Spring Has Sprung, Almost =-.

  28. Hi Barbara. I bought John’s book after reading about it on Davina’s blog. I took my printout to our local office supply store and had them bind it for me. Then I headed to Starbucks, settled into a comfy chair, with fresh coffee and a new pen, and started reading. By bedtime that night I was convinced I’d just bought the gold mine of information to help me secure my blog.

    Yes! I was hacked a few months ago and am determined to learn all I can to keep the doors bolted. John speaks English. Words that, after I’ve read them and watched him DO what he wrote about, I can comprehend as well as just pronounce.

    Now I’m in the process of doing………
    .-= Check out Barb Hartsook´s awesome post: We Live Where Our Focus Is =-.

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