The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.
It’s safe to 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 reported that over 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot image: 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 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 vulnerability can be seen as a potential opportunity to hackers. A vulnerable web site offers hackers with a platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft.
If a hacker can exploit a way to gain access and control of your web site, your website can then be employed as a “bot” to attack other valued sites.
The harsh reality is that malicious bots are probably trying to break into your website or blog right now. Whether they can do this successfully or not, depends on how difficult or easy you can make things for them to keep persisting until they either work out how to get in, or are forced to give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Website Security Scan Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will display a number of results and information about your website setup …
(website security check results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the scanning tool that if you are able to see all of this information, so can hackers.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
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 in your site can be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about any security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite 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 site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by its webhost. This site had practically no value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place inside the site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
Matt’s experience demonstrates that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for security weaknesses …
And let’s you fix these quickly and easily …
Blog Defender – Plugins
Blog Defender comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
This plugin provides a range of essential website security functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 lets you scan WordPress sites to detect whether anything unusual in your source code has been modified, and repair any problems found …
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Tutorials Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 step-by-step training modules (video) plus training guides that will show you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Really Easy To Install
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install just like any regular WordPress plugin. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin section and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow DIY 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 free WordPress plugins to install to get things done.
Some additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you are an info product author (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site has been hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. During this time, your, website could be closed by your host, or even blacklisted by search engines. Additionally, your contacts could be spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender was designed to keeps your site and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product helps you fix the following security areas:
- Hosting 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
- Monitoring Links
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help protect your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WordPress themes and WP plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Image source: BlogDefender website)
Testimonials
Here are a couple of the testimonials that customers have published about Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” 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 first release in 2012.
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 is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers presently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive 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 risk-free, thirty day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product Licensing 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.. Price = $47.00.
Note: Price details for Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the product is selling for the prices shown above. This 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 Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
What We Recommend
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of web security.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and WordPress themes are kept 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 your responsibilities are as a website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress site easier.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Sites
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