The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and the situation is only going to get worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Image: 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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that every website has some value to a malicious user.
If a hacker can find a software vulnerability in your security that allows them to remotely take control of your website, that web site can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyber-attack against other valuable web sites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are searching for weaknesses and trying to break into your website at this very moment. Whether they will do this successfully or not, will depend on how challenging you can make it for hackers to continue trying until they either work out how to get access, 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?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check returns a number of results and details about your website …
(WordPress security check results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you are able to see all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Being able 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 be potentially useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into. This blog was fairly new and so had practically no value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred within the server, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to lure unsuspecting victims to the site and steal financial information.
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
This example is evidence that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for security weaknesses …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite of products includes 3 plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods, automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
The “WordPress Security” plugin performs a range of essential site and file protection functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” scans WordPress sites to see whether your source code has been changed, and fix any problems it uncovers …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without providing any benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes video tutorials plus printable documentation that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from malicious users …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product suite are really easy to install. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY step-by-step training product that will take you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get the job done.
Some additional benefits include:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Secure Your Info Products – If you’re an information product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a website has been hacked, expect to go through a great deal of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, sites can get suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. And if this isn’t painful enough, your contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender offers a number of great features to WP users.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following security areas:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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
- File Monitoring
- Track Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps for securing your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Product image: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Customers
Here are just some testimonials plugin customers have provided for the Blog Defender security suite:
”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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“Sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently!” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-protected websites were hacked since Blog Defender was first released back in 2012.
Matt 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers presently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need 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.
Blog Defender 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, 30 day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Price
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: Current pricing for Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin is selling for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Plugin Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot ignore the importance of securing your website or blog.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and WP themes up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting security procedures like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress site easier.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
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