The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and things are getting worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Source: Blog Defender)
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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website provides no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to profit or benefit at your expense.
If a malicious user can hack and take over your site, your site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target other valuable sites.
The harsh reality is that malicious bots are trying to hack into your blog as you are reading this at this very moment. Whether they will break in or not, depends on how challenging you will make it for hackers or bots to continue persisting until they can find a way to break in, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Scan Screenshot image: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan will yield various results and details about your website setup …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can freely access all of this information about your blog, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
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 are all useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential security weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit began looking for a way to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This blog was quite new and so had practically no value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred within his site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive visitors to the site and hijack financial information.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience shows that that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
WP Plugins
The product suite comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 provides a range of site security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans your files and content to detect if any of your files have been modified, and repair the problem …
(Product image: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without offering any benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes 7 videos and PDF/DOC documentation that teach you exactly how to protect your website from malicious users …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Ready To Start Using In Minutes
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like any regular plugin. Just upload a zip file containing the plugins to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow DIY training product that will take you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins to use to get things done.
Some additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protect Your Info Products From Being Stolen – If you sell info products (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website gets hacked, you can expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. Your, website can get closed by your webhost, or even deindexed in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many features to WP users.
The product addresses the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Monitoring Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps for securing your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Source: Blog Defender)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that customers have submitted regarding the Blog Defender security suite:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.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 the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no websites using Blog Defender were hacked since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012.
Matt Garrett, 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers currently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most premium 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, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
Blog Defender is normally available for personal use only on unlimited sites. When we last checked, however, it was also being sold with Developer rights, allowing users to secure client sites as well.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the Blog Defender product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was current when this article was published. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your site is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP core files, plugins and themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security procedure such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your responsibilities are as the site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your installation easier.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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