The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is only going to get worse.
You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 162,000 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every site with a security vulnerability offers value to hackers. An unsecured web site provides hackers with a valuable platform for stealth attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft.
If a hacker can find a way to take over your site, that web site can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyber-attack against other highly-valued sites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are probably searching for vulnerabilities and trying to break into your website or blog at this very moment. Whether they can break in or not, depends on how difficult you will make things for hackers or botnets to continue trying until they can discover how to get access, or are forced to give up and go 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 …
(Website Security Check Source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will yield a number of results and information about your website …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security check results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to see all of this information about your WordPress site, so can hackers.
(Source: BlogDefender site)
The ability 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 can all be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Solution
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 developer of BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by its hosting company. This particular site was quite new and had literally no value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place inside the server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
This example provides the valuable lesson that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for potential security holes …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly …
Plugins
Blog Defender includes three plugins:
Plugin #1 in the product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud backup solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides your web site with security …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
The “WordPress Security” plugin provides a range of vital website security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans WordPress sites to see whether anything has been found, and repair the problem …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes seven step-by-step training modules (video) and PDF/DOC guides that will show you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
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 site:
Installation Is Easy, Fast & Simple
The Blog Defender plugins install just like every WP plugin. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a do-it-yourself step-by-step training product that walks 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 things done without incurring unnecessary expenses.
Some additional benefits include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If your site sells info products (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Your Host – When a website has been hacked, you can expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, sites could be suspended by your host, or even blocked in search engines. In addition, your contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender hide your WordPress site from hackers and bots.
The product addresses the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- File Monitoring
- Monitor Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps for securing your site, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Product image source: Blog Defender)
Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials and comments that customers have provided for the Blog Defender product:
”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
***
”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no websites or blogs protected by the solution were hacked since Blog Defender was first released in 2012.
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 information and technologies that developers currently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need 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.
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, thirty day, full refund guarantee.
Product Price
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 this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing shown above was correct when this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product seller 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 Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot ignore the importance of website security.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, WP plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security policies like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, 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 a lot of money.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
***
***