The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and it’s getting worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’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 160,000+ WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image 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)
According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress 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. A compromised web site not only presents hackers opportunities to improve their hacking skills and win “respect” amongst their peers, but it can also serve as a resource for launching stealth attacks, spreading malware and participating in information theft.
If a hacker can discover a way to gain access and control of your blog, your blog can then be employed as a “bot” to attack larger and more highly-valued sites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are trying to hack into your site right now. Whether they can do this successfully or not, will depend on how hard you will make it for them to keep trying until they find a way to get access, or decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Check Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns various results and details about your WordPress setup …
(Hackertarget – website security check results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can see all of this information about your site, so can hackers.
(Product image 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 can all be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began looking for a way to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular site had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within the site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
This example shows that that every website has some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The product suite includes 3 plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
The plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud backup solutions using different backup methods, automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides a range of file and site protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your plugins, WordPress themes and WordPress core files to detect whether any of your files have been modified, and fix any problems it uncovers …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes a number of step-by-step training in video format and training documentation that will teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
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 Simple To Install And Configure
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product suite are very easy to install. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can use for free to get things done.
Some additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Secure Your Info Products – If you are a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, website or blog could be suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. And if this is not enough to have to deal with, your contacts could be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender was created to locks down your site and keeps your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product helps you fix the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help secure your site, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Image source: Blog Defender)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about Blog Defender:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” 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 the plugin developer, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs have been hacked.
Matt 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 perpetual game of cat and mouse 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 creates 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 most 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 risk-free, 30 day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin 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.
Please Note: Price details for Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing when this review was published. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
We Recommend
No matter what type 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 ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP core files, plugins and themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security policy such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your security responsibilities are as a website owner, 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 website easier.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
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