The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and the situation is getting worse.
It’s probably safe to 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 began reporting 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: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites provide an opportunity to benefit or profit at your expense.
If hackers can discover a way to gain stealth control of your site, that blog can then be employed to target other valuable web sites.
The reality is that hackers are trying to break into your website right now. Whether they can break into your site successfully depends on how difficult you have made it for hackers or botnets to keep persisting until they find a way to get in, or give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan returns a number of results and details about your website setup …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to see all of this information, then 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 on your server are all valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about potential holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious users and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
Product Description
Blog Defender 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 BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This blog was quite new and had practically no value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack financial details.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
This simple example provides the valuable lesson that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for potential security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite includes 3 plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods (including FTP and email backups), schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text string replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides your website with security …
(Source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 performs a range of essential website security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” lets you scan WordPress sites to detect if anything in your files has been modified, and repair any problems it finds …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your content without providing anything of value in return).
Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes step-by-step training videos plus PDF/DOC guides that will teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Use
The Blog Defender plugins install like any other WP plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY step-by-step training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get the job done.
Some additional benefits of using the plugin include:
- Protect your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Shared Around The Net – If you’re an information product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site is hacked, you can expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, sites can get suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. In addition, your contacts can be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers many features to website owners.
The product provides fixes for the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- File Monitoring
- Monitoring Links
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps for securing your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Plugin Customers
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have submitted for Blog Defender:
”This is a seriously good product!” 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
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, no websites using Blog Defender were hacked since Blog Defender’s release.
Matt Garrett, the product developer 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.”
The war on hackers is an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can get their hands on. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune 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 no-risk, thirty day, full money-back 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: Pricing for Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the pricing at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For help documentation 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, securing your site is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.
Adopting security procedures like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without paying a lot of money.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Solution
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