The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and things are 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 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every site with a vulnerability has some potential value to hackers. If you think that the information in your site is of little value to hackers, think again. Corporate web sites, personal blogs, government websites … even web sites owned by online security experts can and have been targeted.
If hackers can exploit a way to take over and control your website or blog, that website can then be used to target larger and more valuable sites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are most likely looking for exploits and trying to hack into your web site as you are reading this. Whether they can be successful or not, will depend on how hard or easy you will make it for hackers or botnets to continue persisting until they can discover how to get in, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less secure 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 site through their WordPress security scan …
(WP Security Check Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will return a number of results and details about your WordPress installation …
(WP security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to see all of this information about your website, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
The ability 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 on your server can all be useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any exploitable vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious users and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother got hacked into. This particular site had practically no value to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within the site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal financial information.
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Matt’s experience should be enough to illustrate the fact that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for potential security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product includes 3 plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud storage solutions using a number of backup methods, schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
The “WordPress Security” plugin provides a range of file and site security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 lets you scan WordPress sites to detect whether anything has been modified, and repair any problems detected …
(Source: BlogDefender website)
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 people benefit from your hard work without providing you anything of value in return).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes video training guides plus training guides that will show you exactly how to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use
The Blog Defender plugins install just like every other WordPress plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself 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 free WordPress plugins you should use to get things done inexpensively.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Secure Your Info Products – If you are an information product author (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Delisted By Search Engines – When a website gets hacked, expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. Your, website could be closed by your host, or even blocked by 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 a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides a number of great features to WordPress users.
The product provides fixes for all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- File Monitoring
- Monitoring Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help protect your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials and comments that customers have submitted regarding Blog Defender:
”This is probably one of those times you ask yourself ‘do I really need this product?’ Let’s face it, on the surface it’s not going to immediately put more money in your pocket or even add some cool new gizmo to your site… The truth is yes you do and you need it now. I’ve been in the online business for 10+ years and had my fair share of hacked sites which have cost me time and money (lots of it)…I’ve also seen a good number of people have their reputations and entire businesses left in tatters when their sites have been hacked. Right now is the time to act, because when it’s too late, well basically you’ll be screwed (and you’ll regret the day you passed over such a great opportunity to protect yourself for so little). And by the way, if you think your web host will come to your rescue think again, you’ll be on your own, paying to put things right and suffering the cost of lost sales and business. This is a seriously good product and if you rely on WordPress to make you money online then it’s nothing less than essential. Buy it, follow Matt’s expert advice and don’t end up another victim!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no websites or blogs using Blog Defender have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
Matt Garrett 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.”
The war on hackers is is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers presently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive 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, 30 day, full refund guarantee.
Plugin 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: The cost to purchase the Blog Defender software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software is selling for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install The Plugins
No matter what 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 secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WP plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting security policies like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution
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