The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and things are only going to get worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 160,000+ WordPress 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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a vulnerability offers some value to hackers. A vulnerable website provides hackers with a valuable platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and use your site to defraud innocent people.
If someone can find a way to break in and gain remote access and control of your website or blog, that blog can then be used as a “bot” to attack more valued sites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are probably scouring for exploits and trying to hack into your blog right now. Whether they will successfully hack in or not, depends on how hard you have made it for them to continue persisting until they work out a way to get in, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Scan Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan will yield various results and details about your WordPress setup …
(WP security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can freely access all of this information, hackers can too.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
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 all be valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable vulnerabilities, 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 help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by its webhost. This particular blog had literally no value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive visitors to the site and hijack their financial information.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
This simple example illustrates the fact that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security weaknesses …
And let’s you fix these quickly and easily …
Plugins
Blog Defender comes with three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, external servers and cloud storage solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. FTP), automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
The “WordPress Security” plugin performs a range of site and file protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” lets you scan your WordPress web site to see whether anything has been tampered with, and repair the problem …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without providing you anything of benefit in return).
Step-By-Step Training Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven video training modules plus PDF/DOC documentation that will show you exactly how to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
More info:
Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Quick Installation
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install like every other plugin. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your admin account and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself training product that will walk you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get things done.
Some additional benefits of the plugin include:
- Protect your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you’re an info product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. Your, website or blog can get suspended by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender make your your WordPress website invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender provides fixes for all of the following areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process for securing your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image: Blog Defender)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have published about Blog Defender:
”Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re too small or not important enough to be hacked! I’ve found out that I’ve had bots in the backend of my sites, making alterations and changing things around, so there’s no telling what damage they’ve caused. I’ve had my main blog for over 3 years now, and the thought of losing all the hard work I’ve put into it is just devastating, not to mention costly! I have a shared hosting plan, so of course once they can get into one site, they can also access the others. Luckily, I now have the procedures detailed within Blog Defender in place so that I can prevent the majority of this ever happening again. Once you’ve secured one site it gets a lot quicker to secure all subsequent sites. With Blog Defender, you get easy-to-follow videos, along with a detailed checklist that you can downloadf. You are literally walked through the process of securing your blog against hackers, which has given me real peace of mind. This is a growing issue that all website owners are facing; so it isn’t going to go away. Prevention is better than cure, particularly as some of the nastier hacks around can literally ruin your business. So do yourself a favour – get your sites protected now, before it’s too late.” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no websites secured with the solution were hacked since Blog Defender’s release in 2012.
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 an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers can currently access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier 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 no-risk, 30 day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Pricing
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.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual price set by the software seller when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
The Bottom Line
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and WP themes, 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 to help prevent your sites being hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without investing in expensive solutions.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Sites
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