The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and this is getting worse.
It’s 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 reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Source: 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 WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog provides little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites are valuable to a malicious user.
If a malicious user can exploit a vulnerability in your security and gain stealth control of your blog, your site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more valuable web sites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are very likely searching for vulnerabilities and trying to break into your website or blog as you are reading these very words. Whether they can get into your site or not, depends on how challenging you have made things for hackers to continue persisting until they can work out how to get access, or give up and decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns various results and details about your site setup …
(website security check results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to access all of this information, so can hackers.
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
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 potential security weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This site had practically no value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within his server, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to lure visitors to the site and steal their financial information.
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for security holes …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud backup solutions using a number of backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides WordPress security …
(Source: Blog Defender)
The plugin provides a range of site security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” lets you scan your plugins, WordPress themes, core files and content to see whether any code in your files has been modified, and fix any problems it detects …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site, 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).
Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender security suite also includes seven videos and downloadable documentation that teach you exactly how to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here 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:
Installation Is Easy
The plugins included with Blog Defender are really easy to install. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get the job done without paying unnecessary expenses.
Additional benefits of using the plugin include the following:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Shared Around The Net – If you sell a digital product (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website gets hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. As a result, your, blog can be suspended by your host, or even blacklisted in search engines. Additionally, your contacts can be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many features to web site owners.
The product helps you fix all of the following security areas:
- Host Security Advisory
- WordPress 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
- Monitoring Files
- Link Monitoring
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help protect your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Image source: BlogDefender.com)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback users have submitted regarding the Blog Defender product:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”I sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently. Okay, it was my fault for not securing things more, BUT… I didn’t have a handy, current reference like this to turn to for quick help either.;)” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, since Blog Defender was first released, no Blog Defender-protected sites were hacked.
Matt Garrett, the product developer also 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 never-ending 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 WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most web 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, 100% 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.. Price = $47.00.
Note: Pricing details of the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software seller when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your website is something you simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, plugins and themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security procedure like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without investing in expensive solutions.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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