The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and this is getting worse.
You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress 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 significant value to hackers, but the reality is that every website is valuable to a malicious user.
If hackers can exploit a way to access and take over your site, your blog can then be used to attack other valuable sites.
The truth is that malicious bots are trying to break into your website or blog while you are reading this page. Whether they will achieve this depends on how difficult you can make it for hackers or botnets to keep trying until they either can discover a way to get access, or give up and go look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan will yield a number of results and information about your WordPress setup …
(Hackertarget – website security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can see all of this information, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Being able 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 can be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about potentially exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by the hosting company. This particular site had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event 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 by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience demonstrates that every website has some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you fix these quickly …
WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite includes three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
This plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud backup solutions using different backup methods (e.g. Email), schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), do bulk text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your WordPress website with security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” performs a range of essential website security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan WordPress sites to see if anything in your files has been altered, and repair problems …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 people benefit from your content without offering you anything of benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Tutorials Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes 7 video training modules and PDF/DOC guides that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Easy, Quick & Simple To Install
The plugins install like every other plugin. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself step-by-step training product that will take you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins to install to get the job done.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you are an information product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, web presence can get closed by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers a number of great features to web site owners.
Blog Defender provides fixes for the following areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- 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
- File Monitoring
- Link Monitoring
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps for securing your site, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Source: Blog Defender)
User Testimonials
Below are just a few of the testimonials and feedback that plugin users have written about the Blog Defender security products:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
***
”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
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no Blog Defender-protected sites were hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
Matt Garrett, the product developer 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 presently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Product 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, full refund guarantee.
Product Pricing
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 for Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing shown above was current when this content was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin seller when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing:
Additional Plugin Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your web sites.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress software, plugins and WP themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
***
***