The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and this is only going to get worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’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 web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image: BlogDefender website)
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 sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website is of no interest to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites are an opportunity to gain some benefit at your expense.
If hackers can exploit a web security flaw and remotely control your website, the website can then be used to attack more valued sites.
The harsh reality is that brute-force software bots are searching for exploits and trying to hack into your website right now. Whether they will break into your site depends on how difficult or easy you can make it for them to continue trying until they can work out how to get access, or are forced to decide to look for a more vulnerable 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 scan …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will display various results and information about your WordPress site …
(Hackertarget – WP security check results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can see all of this information, hackers can too.
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
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 can be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and botnets.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender 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 began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This particular site had literally no value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within his server, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack Paypal account information.
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
This simple example provides the valuable lesson that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for potential security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
WordPress Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the product suite provides automated backups …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides WordPress security …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
The “WordPress Security” plugin provides a range of essential website protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
The third plugin scans your content and files to detect if any code in your files has been changed, and fix the problem …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Video Training
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender security product suite also includes seven step-by-step video training modules and PDF/DOC guides that show you exactly how to protect your website from malicious users …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below we have listed 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:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install like any other WordPress plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your admin user account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself step-by-step training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get the job done without paying for unnecessary expenses.
Additional plugin benefits include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Helps Avoid Intellectual Property Theft – If your site sells info products (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Your Host – When a website is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, blog can be suspended by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. And if that is not painful enough, 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.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender was designed to keeps your site and your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender 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
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help secure your web site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image source: Blog Defender)
User Testimonials
Here are just some testimonials and comments that plugin customers have provided for the Blog Defender security suite:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.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 Matt Garrett’s site, no websites or blogs protected by the solution have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
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 is a constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can currently access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive 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 risk-free, thirty day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin 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.
Note: The price of the Blog Defender product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the software is selling for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product developer when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of website security.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WP installation, WP plugins and WordPress themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security procedure like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress website easier.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress Web Sites
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