The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is getting worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’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 reported that over 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(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 reported 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.
Every blog with a vulnerability provides some degree of opportunity to hackers. A vulnerable web site not only offers new hackers opportunities to improve their hacking skills and claim “bragging rights” among their peers, but it can also acts as a platform for DDoS attacks, spreading malware and defrauding site visitors through information theft.
If hackers can hack into and remotely control your site, the web site can then be employed to target larger and more valuable sites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are most likely trying to break into your website while you are reading this at this very moment. Whether they can achieve this depends on how difficult or easy you can make it for them to keep trying until they can either discover how to get access, or are forced to give up and go look for a less protected target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(Website Security Check Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will yield various results and information about your site setup …
(website security scan results. Screenshot image: 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: Blog Defender)
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 be useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about any exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and botnets.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
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. This site was not being used and had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of this after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
This example shows that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your WordPress site are …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
WP Plugins
The product suite includes three plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud-based solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
The “WordPress Security” plugin provides a range of vital website protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your site to see if code in your files has been changed, and repair any problems found …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without offering you anything in return).
Blog Defender – Video Training
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes a number of step-by-step video training and written guides that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from hackers …
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Here we have listed 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:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product are quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself step-by-step training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can use for free to get the job done without incurring unnecessary expenses.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell information products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Search Engines – When a website gets hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration 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 blacklisted in search engines. And if that isn’t painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers many unique features to WP users.
The product helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host 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 Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help protect your site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Testimonials
Below are a couple of the testimonials and feedback plugin users have written about Blog Defender:
”This is probably one of those times you ask yourself ‘do I really need this product?’ Let’s face it, on the surface it’s not going to immediately put more money in your pocket or even add some cool new gizmo to your site… The truth is yes you do and you need it now. I’ve been in the online business for 10+ years and had my fair share of hacked sites which have cost me time and money (lots of it)…I’ve also seen a good number of people have their reputations and entire businesses left in tatters when their sites have been hacked. Right now is the time to act, because when it’s too late, well basically you’ll be screwed (and you’ll regret the day you passed over such a great opportunity to protect yourself for so little). And by the way, if you think your web host will come to your rescue think again, you’ll be on your own, paying to put things right and suffering the cost of lost sales and business. This is a seriously good product and if you rely on WordPress to make you money online then it’s nothing less than essential. Buy it, follow Matt’s expert advice and don’t end up another victim!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.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’s first release, no websites secured with the product have been hacked.
Matt also 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 ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress 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 risk-free, 30 day, full money-back guarantee.
Product License Pricing
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.
Note: The cost of purchasing this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the plugin is selling for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Download This Product
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress installation, plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities 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 which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress site easier.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
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