The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and things are getting worse.
It’s probably 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 began reporting that 162,000 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website has no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website provides an opportunity to benefit at your expense.
If a hacker can find a software weakness in your security, that web site can then be employed to target larger and more valued web sites.
The truth is that malicious bots are most likely trying to hack into your website right now. Whether they can be successful will depend on how difficult or easy you can make things for hackers or botnets to continue persisting until they can discover how to get access, or decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan will display a number of results and information about your site …
(website security scan results. Source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you can access all of this information about your site, then hackers can too.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Being able to see which 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 potentially useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about potentially exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into. This particular site was new and so had literally nothing to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside the site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files designed to drive visitors to the site and steal Paypal account details.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
This example should be enough to illustrate the fact that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
Plugins
Blog Defender includes three plugins:
The first plugin in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), do bulk text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides your website with security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 performs a range of vital site protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your WordPress plugins, WP themes and core files to detect if anything in your files has been tampered with, and repair the problem …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without offering anything of value in return).
Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes step-by-step training in video format and downloadable guides that will show you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Very Easy To Install
The Blog Defender plugins are quite easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a practical training product that will take you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should install to get the job done inexpensively.
Additional benefits of the plugin include:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products – If you sell a digital product (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Web Host And Delisted By Search Engines – When a website gets hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, website or blog can be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. And if this isn’t enough to have to deal with, your contacts can end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides a number of great features to WordPress users.
The product addresses the following areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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
- Monitor Files
- Monitoring Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help protect your site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Users
Here are just a few of the testimonials and comments customers have published about the Blog Defender security products:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”My business is built around the WordPress platform and I’m embarrassed to admin I’ve been slack in the security department. However, Matt’s training soon put that right! I followed each detailed video to the letter and discovered some incredible security tricks and plugins I’d never heard of before. Better still, all the plugins were free to download too! The end result? My WordPress membership site is now locked down tighter than Parkhurst at midnight and if anybody tries hacking it, I’ll be the first to know! thanks again Matt, I’m off to secure the rest of the blogs in my portfolio!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, since the release of Blog Defender, no sites secured with the solution were hacked.
Matt Garrett, 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers presently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t require 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, full refund 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: Price details for the Blog Defender software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price above was correct at the time this content was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin author when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Plugin Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
What We Recommend
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of securing your website.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and WordPress themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security policy like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your responsibilities are as a website 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 how to avoid major security risks without paying for costly solutions.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress
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