The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and the situation is only going to get worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 162,000 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Image 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)
According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website has nothing to offer to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites provide an opportunity to benefit at your expense.
If a hacker can discover a security weakness, that web site can then be used as a “bot” to attack larger and more highly-valued sites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are looking for exploits and trying to break into your web site at this very moment. Whether they will be successful or not, will depend on how challenging you can make things for hackers to continue persisting until they can either discover a way to break in, or are forced to give up and go look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(WordPress Security Check Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan will yield a number of results and details about your WordPress setup …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Screenshot 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, so can hackers.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
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 are all valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential security weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
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 creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This blog was almost brand new and so had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being contacted by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files designed to drive visitors to the site and hijack their Paypal account information.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
This simple example shows that that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for potential security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
WordPress Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite of products includes three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud storage solutions using different backup methods, perform complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do bulk text string replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
This plugin performs a range of file and site security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
The third plugin lets you scan WordPress sites to see whether anything unusual in your files or source code has been found, and fix the problem …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without providing you any benefit in return).
Training Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven step-by-step video tutorial modules plus training guides that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from hackers …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just some of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Easy & Fast To Install
The Blog Defender plugins are very easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your administrator section and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow DIY step-by-step training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins to install to get the job done inexpensively.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Freely Distributed – If you’re an info product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a website has been hacked, you should expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, account can get suspended by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. And if that is not painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal 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 web site invisible to hackers and botnets.
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
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- Monitor Files
- Link Tracking
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help protect your web site, addressing hosting security, 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. Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Plugin Users
Here are just a few of the testimonials plugin customers have provided for the Blog Defender solution:
”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
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-protected websites were hacked since Blog Defender’s first 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 presently 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.
Blog Defender 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.
Product 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.
Please Note: Pricing details of the Blog Defender software 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 prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
We Recommend
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web sites is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WP core files, plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your installation easier.
For full details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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