The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation is only going to get worse.
It’s 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 reported that over 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
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.
Every website or blog with a vulnerability offers some value to hackers. An unsecured website or blog not only offers new hackers opportunities to improve their skills and win “respect” from their peers, but it can also acts as a valuable resource for launching stealth attacks, distributing malware and defrauding visitors through information theft.
If a malicious user can exploit a security vulnerability in your system and control your website or blog, your web site can then be employed as a “bot” to attack more valuable sites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are most likely trying to break into your blog at this very moment. Whether they can get in successfully or not, depends on how challenging you will make it for hackers or bots to keep persisting until they either find how to get access, or give up and go 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 – Website Security Check Product image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check returns a number of results and details about your WordPress installation …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security check results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, hackers can too.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Being able to see which version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed on your site, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories can all be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious users and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress
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 developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This particular site was new and had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being contacted by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside the site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack financial information.
(Source: BlogDefender website)
This example shows that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your web site are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite of products includes 3 plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), do bulk text string replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides WordPress security …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin performs a range of vital file and site security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” lets you scan your plugins, themes and WP core files to see whether any of your files have been found, and fix any problems detected …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 others benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes several step-by-step training in video format and training documentation that will show you exactly how to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure
The plugins included with Blog Defender are really easy to install. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a practical do-it-yourself 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 free WordPress plugins you should install to get things done without incurring extra costs.
Additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products From Being Freely Distributed – If you sell digital products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site is hacked, 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, account could get closed by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Features
Blog Defender offers many unique features to website owners.
Blog Defender helps you fix the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- Monitor Files
- Monitoring Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WP 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 secure your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
User Feedback
Here are just a few of the testimonials and feedback that plugin customers 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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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to the product’s site, no sites protected with the solution have been hacked since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012.
Matt Garrett also 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can currently access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, doesn’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.
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, 100% refund guarantee.
Product 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was current when this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product seller when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Get This Product
Regardless of the 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 securing your web sites.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress core files, WordPress plugins and WP themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your site is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress installation easier.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress
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