The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.
You can safely 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 160,000+ WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot image: 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a 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 offers potential value to hackers. No matter what 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 simply cannot afford to ignore. Large, medium and small business web sites, personal blogs, government web sites … even sites owned by online security experts can and have been targeted.
If a hacker can find a security weakness, the blog can then be employed to attack other valued websites.
The truth is that malicious bots are very likely trying to hack into your blog as you are reading this article right now. Whether they will do this successfully or not, will depend on how challenging you will make things for hackers and bots to continue trying until they work out a way to get access, or are forced to give up and go look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your website …
(WordPress security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the scanning tool that if you can access all of this information, so can hackers.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
The ability to see what version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed on your site, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories on your server can all be valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This site had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack Paypal account information.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience should be enough to convince you that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security holes …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
WordPress Plugins
Blog Defender comes with 3 plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your website or blog with security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
This plugin provides a range of site security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your plugins, themes and core files to detect if anything unusual in your source code has been found, and repair any problems it finds …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #3 “WP 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 content without offering you any reciprocal value in return).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender security suite also includes seven step-by-step video tutorial modules and written documentation that teach you exactly what to do to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Product image: BlogDefender site)
For more details go here:
Benefits
Below 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 site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up
The plugins are really easy to install. Simply upload them to your Plugins folder via your admin section and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow step-by-step training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get things done without paying additional expenses.
Some additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If you sell an information product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Closed By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, you should expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, sites could be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender was designed to locks down your site and keeps your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WordPress 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
- Monitor Files
- Tracking Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help secure your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Image source: BlogDefender site)
User Feedback
Here are some of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have published about the Blog Defender product suite:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, since Blog Defender was released back in 2012, no websites protected with 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than many web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
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, full refund guarantee.
Product Price
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 software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the product sells for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the product developer 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 the latest price:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
What We Recommend
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of securing your sites.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress core files, plugins and WordPress themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your security responsibilities are as the website 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 WordPress installation easier.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress Web Sites
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