The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and this is only going to get worse.
It’s safe to 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 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot source: 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website is of no interest to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to benefit or profit at your expense.
If a malicious user can exploit a vulnerability and gain control of your web site, the site can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more valuable web sites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are probably trying to hack into your blog while you are reading this article. Whether they can successfully hack in will depend on how difficult you will make things for hackers and botnets to continue trying until they work out how to get access, or are forced to give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(Website Security Scan Screenshot source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test will return a number of results and information about your site …
(WP security scan results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to see all of this information about your blog, so can hackers.
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
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 are all valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about any security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into. This blog was new and had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within the server, as well as the addition of several malicious files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
This simple example demonstrates that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security weaknesses in your website are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with 3 plugins:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
This plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud storage solutions using different backup methods, schedule complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides your web site with security …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides a range of website protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” allows you to scan your plugins, themes, core files and content to see whether your source code has been modified, and fix any problems it uncovers …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Video Training
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes a number of training videos and training documentation that will show you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
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 web site:
Ready To Use In No Time
The plugins are very easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP admin account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY step-by-step training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get things done.
Some additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products – If you are an info product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Banned By Search Engines – When a site is 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 could be closed by your host, or even deindexed in search engines. And if that isn’t enough to have to deal with, your contacts can be spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender provides many unique features to website owners.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Monitoring Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help secure your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials that customers 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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“Sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently!” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, since Blog Defender was first released, no sites using Blog Defender have been hacked.
The product developer also states on his site, however …
“With the volume of attacks nowadays … we probably won’t hold forever, so we’ve been busy creating even tougher WordPress security.”
Cybersecurity is an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers can get their hands on. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many web 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 no-risk, 30 day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software 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 cost to purchase the Blog Defender software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the pricing at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product seller when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details here:
Additional Plugin Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
Regardless of the type 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 web security.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WP core files, plugins and themes up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you understand 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 attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress site easier.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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