The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and it’s only going to get worse.
You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 160,000+ WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Screenshot: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your site provides little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website provides an opportunity to gain some advantage at your expense.
If someone can access and remotely control your blog, the blog can then be employed to target other highly-valued web sites.
The reality is that hackers are very likely trying to hack into your blog as you are reading this page at this very moment. Whether they can successfully hack in or not, depends on how hard you will make it for hackers to keep persisting until they either discover a way to get access, or are forced to give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan will return various results and information about your website …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can freely access all of this information, so can hackers.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Being able to see which 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 useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any security vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender
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 the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This blog was not being used and so had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within the server, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack Paypal account information.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
This example shows that that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security vulnerabilities …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
WordPress Plugins
The product suite comes with three WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods, automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides your site with security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #2 provides a range of website security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” lets you scan your web site to detect whether anything in your files has been found, and repair any problems it uncovers …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your content without offering any reciprocal benefit or value in return).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender security suite also includes seven training modules in video format plus written guides that will show you exactly how to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The plugins included with Blog Defender install like every other plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugins folder via your admin area and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow 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 free plugins to use to get the job done inexpensively.
Some additional plugin benefits include:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If your site sells information products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, website or blog could be closed by your host, or even blacklisted by search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many features to WordPress users.
The product helps you fix the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- WP 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
- File Monitoring
- Tracking Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help protect your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Customers
Below are a couple of the testimonials 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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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no websites using Blog Defender were hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
Matt 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 is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers currently can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, doesn’t cost you 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, full refund guarantee.
Plugin Cost
Blog Defender is normally available for personal use only 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 of purchasing the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software developer when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Get This Product
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your sites is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security policies such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities as a website owner 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 how to avoid major security risks without paying for costly solutions.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Suite
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