The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.
You can safely 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 began reporting that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image: BlogDefender.com)
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 attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a security vulnerability presents an opportunity to hackers. A compromised site not only presents hackers opportunities to improve their skills and win “respect” among their peers, but it can also be a resource for distributed denial of service attacks, spreading malware and participating in information theft.
If a hacker can discover a security weakness in your system that lets them gain remote access and control of your website, that website can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target larger and more valued websites.
The reality is that malicious bots are most likely trying to hack into your web site while you are reading this article. Whether they can hack in successfully will depend on how challenging you have made things for them to keep trying until they discover how to get in, or are forced to give up and go look for a less protected target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your website setup …
(website security check results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can see all of this information about your WordPress site, so can hackers.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
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 be useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about any security vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress Web Sites
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
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 blog was new and had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within his server, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack Paypal account details.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
This simple example is evidence that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for potential security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud backup solutions using different backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
The plugin performs a range of essential file and site security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your site to detect whether anything unusual in your source code has been tampered with, and repair any problems detected …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” 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 reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes several step-by-step videos and downloadable guides that will show you exactly how to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Quick Installation
The plugins included with Blog Defender are really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin area and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a practical training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get the job done without incurring additional or unnecessary expenses.
Some additional benefits of using this plugin include:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you are a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website has been hacked, you can expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. During this time, your, account could get suspended by your host, or even deindexed in search engines. Additionally, your contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender was designed to keeps your site and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product provides fixes for the following areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- 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 Blocking
- Monitor Files
- Link Monitoring
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process for securing your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
User Feedback
Below are a few of the testimonials that users have written about the Blog Defender product suite:
”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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”In the past month alone, I’ve had 3 niche blogs hacked, costing me hundreds of dollars in lost sales – all of which could have been avoided if I followed the steps in this training. I can tell you, there’s nothing worse than spending months building up a blog, adding posts every few days, and then finding it all gone in an instant. The great thing about these ‘over the shoulder’ videos is that you get to see exactly how to do everything, so it doesn’t matter if you’re technically challenged. Just copy what you see on the screen, and then relax knowing your blogs are safe. (Just one of the tips in the first video alone could probably have prevented my blogs getting hacked) I even noticed one or two tips in there that help with SEO too … so following these videos could even bring your blogs more traffic!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, since Blog Defender’s first release, no Blog Defender-protected websites were hacked.
Matt Garrett, the product developer 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers currently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive 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, complete refund guarantee.
Software 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.
Note: Pricing for Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was correct at the time this content was written. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin seller when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, 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, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of web security.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP installation, WordPress plugins and themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security policy such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major WordPress security holes without paying for costly solutions.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress
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