The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and things are getting worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 160,000+ WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
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 websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website has nothing to offer to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites are an opportunity to profit or benefit at your expense.
If someone can exploit a way to gain complete control of your website or blog, your blog can then be employed to attack more valued web sites.
The reality is that malicious bots are trying to break into your site right now. Whether they can be successful depends on how hard you will make it for hackers and bots to continue trying until they work out how to break in, or are forced to give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(WP Security Scan Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will return a number of results and information about your website setup …
(WordPress security scan results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your site, so can hackers.
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
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 in your site are all valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
Product Description
Blog Defender 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 the BlogDefender security suit began looking for a way to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This site was quite new and so had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to lure visitors to the site and hijack their Paypal account information.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
This simple example should be enough to illustrate the fact that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security holes in your WordPress site are …
And let’s you quickly fix these …
WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product includes three WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud backup solutions using different backup methods (e.g. Email), perform complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
The “WP Security” plugin performs a range of vital website security functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 lets you scan your files and content to detect if any code in your files has been altered, and fix the problem …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
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 others benefit from your hard work without providing you anything of benefit in return).
Video Tutorials
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes seven step-by-step training modules (video) and written documentation that will teach you exactly how to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Ready To Go To Work In No Time
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install just like any WP plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY step-by-step training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins you should use to get the job done.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Protect your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protect Your Info Products – If you sell information products (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Your Host – When a website is hacked, you should expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, blog could be closed by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. And if that is not painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details and financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender make your your site invisible to hackers and malicious botnets.
The product helps you fix the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help secure your website, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Plugin Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about the Blog Defender security suite:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”In the past month alone, I’ve had 3 niche blogs hacked, costing me hundreds of dollars in lost sales – all of which could have been avoided if I followed the steps in this training. I can tell you, there’s nothing worse than spending months building up a blog, adding posts every few days, and then finding it all gone in an instant. The great thing about these ‘over the shoulder’ videos is that you get to see exactly how to do everything, so it doesn’t matter if you’re technically challenged. Just copy what you see on the screen, and then relax knowing your blogs are safe. (Just one of the tips in the first video alone could probably have prevented my blogs getting hacked) I even noticed one or two tips in there that help with SEO too … so following these videos could even bring your blogs more traffic!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no sites using Blog Defender have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release in 2012.
Matt Garrett 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers can get their hands on. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most web 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, thirty day, complete refund 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for the Blog Defender plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin sells for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
We Recommend
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your website or blog is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your responsibilities are as a site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Websites & Blogs
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