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 probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could yours 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every site with a vulnerability provides some type of opportunity to hackers. A compromised blog provides hackers with a resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and to engage in information theft.
If a malicious user can find a way to access and control your site, your website can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target other valuable sites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are most likely trying to hack into your web site as you are reading this article. Whether they can do this successfully or not, will depend on how hard or easy you have made things for hackers and botnets to keep persisting until they can discover how to get in, or are forced to give up and go look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Website Security Scan Product image: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and information about your WordPress setup …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to freely access all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
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 can all be valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product 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 began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by the hosting company. This site was new and so had literally no value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal financial information.
(Source: BlogDefender site)
This simple example should be enough to illustrate the fact that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security holes in your WordPress site are …
And let’s you easily fix these …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security product includes three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text string replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides a range of vital site security functions (see “Features” section below).
The third plugin allows you to scan your WP plugins, themes, core files and content to see whether code in your files has been modified, and fix any problems it detects …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender WordPress security product suite also includes training videos and PDF/DOC guides that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
More info:
Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins are quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin files 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 will take you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins to use to get things done inexpensively.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- 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 Intellectual Property Theft – If your site sells information products (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a site gets 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. Your, blog could be closed by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. In addition, your contacts can 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.
Features
Blog Defender offers many features to website owners.
The product provides fixes for all of the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- 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 Blocking
- Monitoring Files
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help protect your your WordPress installation, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
User Feedback
Here are just some testimonials and comments customers have published about the Blog Defender solution:
”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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”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, since the release of Blog Defender, no sites using Blog Defender have been hacked.
Matt Garrett 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.”
The war on hackers is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers currently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender 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.
Software Cost
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.
Please Note: The cost to purchase the Blog Defender plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing above was correct when this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin seller when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Download The Product
Regardless of the 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 website security.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress installation, WP plugins and WP themes up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your sites are compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your site easier.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Suite
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