The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and the situation is only going to get 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 over 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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 sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a vulnerability can be seen as a potential opportunity to hackers. No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your website or blog. Large, medium and small business sites, personal blogs, government websites … even web sites owned by web security experts can and have been targeted.
If hackers can hack into and gain access and control of your web site, that website or blog can then be employed to target larger and more valued web sites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are probably scouring for security exploits and trying to break into your blog right now. Whether they can break in successfully or not, will depend on how difficult or easy you can make things for them to continue trying until they can discover a way to get access, or are forced to decide to 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 a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Check Product image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan will yield various results and information about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to access all of this information about your WordPress site, hackers can too.
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
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 can all be useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Suite
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 creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This site was almost brand new and so had practically nothing to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of this after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack financial information.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
This example should be enough to convince you that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security vulnerabilities …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly …
WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite includes three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the product suite provides automated backups …
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
This plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud storage solutions using different backup methods (e.g. Email), perform complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), do bulk text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your website with security …
(Product image: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #2 performs a range of website security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your plugins, themes, core files and content to see if any of your files have been found, and fix any problems found …
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven step-by-step video training modules plus downloadable guides that will teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins are really easy to install. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a practical and useful 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 inexpensively.
Some additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Freely Distributed – If you are an information product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website has been hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, website or blog could be suspended by your host, or even blacklisted in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender provides a number of features to website owners.
Blog Defender helps you fix 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
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process for securing your your WordPress installation, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WordPress themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials plugin users have written about Blog Defender:
”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
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, since Blog Defender was first released, no Blog Defender-secured websites or blogs were hacked.
Matt 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.”
The war on hackers is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers can currently get their hands on. 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 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, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Price
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.. Price = $47.00.
Note: The price of Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product sells for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the product author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information here:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
What We Recommend
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your site is something you cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, 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 investing in expensive solutions.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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