The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and this is getting worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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)
As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website or blog with a security vulnerability can present an opportunity to hackers. A vulnerable blog provides malicious users with a valuable resource to launch DDoS attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft.
If a malicious user can find a flaw in your system, your website or blog can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyber attack against larger and more valuable sites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are searching for weaknesses and trying to hack into your blog right now. Whether they will get into your site successfully will depend on how hard you have made it for hackers and bots to keep trying until they either find a way to get access, or give up and decide to look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(WP Security Check Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns various results and details about your WordPress setup …
(WordPress security check results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information about your WordPress website, then hackers can too.
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
Being able 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 be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any potential holes or weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This site had literally no value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his server, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Product image: Blog Defender)
This example shows that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your website are …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite includes 3 plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the product suite provides automated backups …
(Source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud solutions using a number of backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do mass text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides WordPress security …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin performs a range of file and site security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans your content and files to detect if any code in your files has been found, and fix the problem …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without offering you any benefit in return).
Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender WP security product suite also includes a number of video training guides and printable documentation that will teach you exactly what to do to protect your website from hackers …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Ready To Use In No Time
The plugins install just like any plugin. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator account and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a practical and useful DIY training product that will take you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins to install to get things done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Protect your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If you are a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, web presence can be closed by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender was created to keep your sites and your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender covers the following issues:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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
- Tracking Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help protect your site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Users
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback that users have published about Blog Defender:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since Blog Defender was first released, no Blog Defender-protected sites were hacked.
Matt 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 knowledge and technologies that developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates 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.
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 risk-free, 30 day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: The price of the Blog Defender software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the software retails for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software author when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information here:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
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 securing your web site.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress software, WordPress plugins and themes up-to-date, tightening file and data security 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 your site is attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress installation easier.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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