The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s getting worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Source: BlogDefender site)
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 cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your site provides little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites have some value to a malicious user.
If a malicious user can exploit a security vulnerability in your system and take over your web site, your web site can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more highly-valued websites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are most likely scouring for exploits and trying to hack into your website while you are reading this page. Whether they can successfully get in will depend on how difficult you will make it for them to continue trying until they either work out a way to break in, or are forced to give up and go look for a more vulnerable 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 website through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Check Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan will display various results and information about your website …
(WordPress security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot 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 are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potential vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress
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 BlogDefender began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This blog had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within his site, as well as the addition of several malicious files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience should be enough to illustrate the fact that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your website are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security product includes three plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
The plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
This plugin provides a range of essential site and file security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your plugins, WordPress themes and WP core files to detect whether code in your files has been altered, and fix problems …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” 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 people benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes several step-by-step tutorial videos and training documentation that will teach you exactly how to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Benefits
Here are 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 Very Little Time
The plugins are really easy to install. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a useful do-it-yourself training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins to use to get the job done inexpensively.
Additional benefits include:
- Protect your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Avoid Intellectual Property Theft – If your site sells an info product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Your Host – When a site gets hacked, you should expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, web presence can be suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers many great features to website owners.
Blog Defender covers the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help protect your web site, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky WP themes and WP plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image: Blog Defender)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials that users have provided for the Blog Defender solution:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”In the past month alone, I’ve had 3 niche blogs hacked, costing me hundreds of dollars in lost sales – all of which could have been avoided if I followed the steps in this training. I can tell you, there’s nothing worse than spending months building up a blog, adding posts every few days, and then finding it all gone in an instant. The great thing about these ‘over the shoulder’ videos is that you get to see exactly how to do everything, so it doesn’t matter if you’re technically challenged. Just copy what you see on the screen, and then relax knowing your blogs are safe. (Just one of the tips in the first video alone could probably have prevented my blogs getting hacked) I even noticed one or two tips in there that help with SEO too … so following these videos could even bring your blogs more traffic!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to the product’s website, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
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 ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers presently can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates 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 most premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Plugin 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 Pricing
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.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: The price of Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing above was correct at the time this review was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer when you visit the plugin website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Get The Product
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress installation, plugins and WP themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your responsibilities are as a site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your website easier.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Sites
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