The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and things are 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 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image: BlogDefender.com)
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)
According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every blog with a security vulnerability provides some degree of opportunity to hackers. All websites are valuable to hackers. Large, medium and small web sites, personal blogs, government websites … even sites owned by online security experts can and have been targeted.
If someone can find a way to break in and remotely take control of your website, that website can then be used as a “bot” to attack larger and more valued websites.
The reality is that malicious bots are very likely trying to hack into your website right now. Whether they will hack in or not, depends on how difficult you can make things for hackers to keep persisting until they discover how to get in, or 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 Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Scan Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns various results and details about your website …
(website security scan results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, hackers can too.
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Being able 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 can all be valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Blogs
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This particular site had practically no value to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
This simple example should be enough to convince you that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for potential security weaknesses …
And let’s you quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The product suite comes with three WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Source: Blog Defender)
The plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and cloud solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), do mass text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides your web site with security …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin performs a range of vital site and file security functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your plugins, themes, WP core files and content to detect if anything has been altered, and repair any problems detected …
(Product image: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 others benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes 7 step-by-step video training modules plus PDF/DOC guides that show you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
For more details go here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below are just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Really Easy To Install
The Blog Defender plugins install just like every WP plugin. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your WP admin account and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY step-by-step training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can install for free to get the job done.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Protect your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If your site sells a digital product (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site gets hacked, you should 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. During this time, your, sites could be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business and financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Features
Blog Defender make your your WordPress website or blog invisible to hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender provides fixes for the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- Monitor Files
- Link Tracking
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help secure your your WordPress installation, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Image source: Blog Defender)
User Feedback
Here are a few of the testimonials users have published about Blog Defender:
”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
Plugin Tips
According to the product’s site, no websites or blogs secured with the product have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release.
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.”
Cybersecurity is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers presently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender Plugin 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, thirty day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product Licensing 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: Current pricing for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price above was correct at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the product author when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
No matter what 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 securing your site.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WP core files, plugins and WP themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your sites are hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress Websites
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