The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and the situation is only going to get 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 162,000 WordPress websites 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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every site with a security vulnerability offers some value to hackers. A compromised blog not only presents hackers opportunities to improve their hacking skills and claim “bragging rights” amongst their peers, but it can also serve as a resource for launching distributed denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft.
If someone can hack and take over your site, your blog can then be employed to attack larger and more highly-valued websites.
The reality is that hackers are searching for exploits and trying to break into your website or blog as you are reading this. Whether they will do this successfully will depend on how hard or easy you have made it for hackers and botnets to keep trying until they can find a way to break in, or are forced to give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Scan Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check returns a number of results and details about your website …
(WP security check results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your WordPress site, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Being able to see what version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories on your server can be useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender
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 BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by its webhost. This particular blog was devoid of content and had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
This example should be enough to illustrate the fact that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides your WordPress web site with security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 provides a range of vital website protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your plugins, WordPress themes and core files to detect if anything in your files has been modified, and repair problems …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” 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 work without providing any reciprocal benefit or value in return).
Blog Defender – Tutorials Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes videos plus printable guides that will teach you exactly how to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
For more details, visit the plugin site 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 website:
Ready To Go To Work In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins are quite easy to install. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a training product that will take you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can use for free to get the job done.
Some additional benefits of the plugin include:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Freely Distributed – If you sell an info product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website has been hacked, you can 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, site can be closed by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. And if that isn’t enough to have to deal with, your contacts could be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers a number of features to site owners.
The product helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Tracking Links
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps to help secure your site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image source: BlogDefender website)
Feedback From Users
Below are just some testimonials that users have provided for Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”In the past month alone, I’ve had 3 niche blogs hacked, costing me hundreds of dollars in lost sales – all of which could have been avoided if I followed the steps in this training. I can tell you, there’s nothing worse than spending months building up a blog, adding posts every few days, and then finding it all gone in an instant. The great thing about these ‘over the shoulder’ videos is that you get to see exactly how to do everything, so it doesn’t matter if you’re technically challenged. Just copy what you see on the screen, and then relax knowing your blogs are safe. (Just one of the tips in the first video alone could probably have prevented my blogs getting hacked) I even noticed one or two tips in there that help with SEO too … so following these videos could even bring your blogs more traffic!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, no Blog Defender-secured websites or blogs were hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
The product developer 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 information and tools developers can currently harness. 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 many 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, thirty day, complete refund guarantee.
Software 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.. Price = $47.00.
Note: The cost of purchasing this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the product is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin author when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Download The Product
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web site is something you cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP installation, plugins and WP themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security policy such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your responsibilities are as a site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your site is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your installation easier.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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