The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are 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 reported that 160,000+ legitimate WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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 WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a security vulnerability offers potential value to hackers. A compromised website or blog presents hackers with a valuable resource to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and use your website to steal information from innocent people.
If hackers can discover a software vulnerability in your security, the blog can then be employed as a “bot” to attack larger and more highly-valued web sites.
The reality is that hackers are very likely looking for security exploits and trying to break into your blog as you are reading this page right now. Whether they will do this successfully or not, will depend on how challenging you will make it for hackers to continue persisting until they either work out how to get access, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less secure 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 site through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Check Screenshot: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan returns a number of results and details about your website …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security check results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information, so can hackers.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
The ability to see what 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 on your server can all be potentially valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential security vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and bots.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
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 to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular site had literally no value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place inside his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
This simple example provides the valuable lesson that every website has some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your WordPress site are …
And let’s you easily fix these …
Plugins
Blog Defender comes with 3 plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text string replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides your WordPress web site with security …
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
The plugin provides a range of site and file security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” lets you scan WordPress sites to detect whether any of your files have been tampered with, and repair any problems detected …
(Source: Blog Defender)
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 offering any reciprocal value or benefit in return).
Video Training
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender WP security product suite also includes 7 step-by-step training modules (video) plus written documentation that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from malicious users …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Learn more here:
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:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins install like every other plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your administrator account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a practical do-it-yourself training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should install to get the job done without paying for additional or unnecessary expenses.
Additional benefits include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If your site sells digital products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Closed By Your Web Host And Delisted By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, web presence can be closed by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, your personal contacts could be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers many unique features to WordPress users.
Blog Defender addresses the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitoring Files
- Link Tracking
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help protect your web site, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Image source: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that plugin customers have provided for the Blog Defender security products:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”My business is built around the WordPress platform and I’m embarrassed to admin I’ve been slack in the security department. However, Matt’s training soon put that right! I followed each detailed video to the letter and discovered some incredible security tricks and plugins I’d never heard of before. Better still, all the plugins were free to download too! The end result? My WordPress membership site is now locked down tighter than Parkhurst at midnight and if anybody tries hacking it, I’ll be the first to know! thanks again Matt, I’m off to secure the rest of the blogs in my portfolio!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no websites protected by the solution have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release.
The product developer 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.”
The war on hackers is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers can currently harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, won’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most web 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, 30 day, full refund guarantee.
Software Cost
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.
Note: Pricing for this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing when this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing here:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
The Bottom Line
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities 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 site easier.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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