The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is getting worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s inevitable that at some point in time someone will attempt to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 162,000 WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
According to the Cnet report,
“With some old-fashioned trickery, hackers were able to get more than 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered Web sites to mount a distributed-denial-of-service attack against another Web site.”
(Source: cnet.com/news/ddos-attack-is-launched-from-162000-wordpress-sites)
As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your site offers no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to gain some benefit at your expense.
If a malicious user can exploit a web software weakness, the website can then be used to target more highly-valued sites.
The truth is that malicious bots are very likely trying to break into your web site while you are reading this right now. Whether they can hack in successfully or not, depends on how difficult you can make it for hackers to keep persisting until they find a way to get access, or are forced to decide to look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Website Security Scan Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will return various results and information about your website …
(Hackertarget – WP security scan results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can freely access all of this information, hackers can too.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
The ability to see which version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories on your server can be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about any potential security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender began looking for a way to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by its hosting company. This particular blog had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within his site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience illustrates the fact that every website has some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your WordPress site are …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
WordPress Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite of products comes with three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
This plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides WordPress security …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 “WP Security” performs a range of vital website protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your web site to see if anything unusual in your source code or files has been modified, and fix any problems it uncovers …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without offering you any reciprocal benefit or value in return).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes a number of training videos and downloadable documentation that will show you exactly how to protect your site from hackers …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Be Up And Running In Very Little Time
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product are very easy to install. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a practical training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins to use to get the job done inexpensively.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Shared Around The Net – If your site sells info products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site gets hacked, you can expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, account could be suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. And if this is not enough to have to deal with, your contacts could end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender make your your website invisible to hackers and malicious botnets.
The product helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps to help protect your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials that users have published about the Blog Defender product suite:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”I sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently. Okay, it was my fault for not securing things more, BUT… I didn’t have a handy, current reference like this to turn to for quick help either.;)” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since the release of Blog Defender, no sites secured by the product have been hacked.
The product developer also states on his site …
“With the volume of attacks nowadays … we probably won’t hold forever, so we’ve been busy creating even tougher WordPress security.”
The war on hackers is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Support
The product is well-supported, can be used by both Mac and PC users, is compatible with the latest WordPress release and is backed by a no-risk, 30 day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
Blog Defender is normally available with a personal license only for use on unlimited sites. When we last checked, however, it was also being sold with Developer rights, allowing users to secure client sites as well.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the product is selling for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price:
Additional Plugin Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Buy This Product
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of web security.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress installation, plugins and themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you understand what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without investing in expensive solutions.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress Websites & Blogs
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