The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s only going to get 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 over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Source: 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)
According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a 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 your site provides no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to profit or benefit at your expense.
If someone can discover a way to gain remote access of your website or blog, that site can then be used as a “bot” in a planned cyberattack against more valued sites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are trying to break into your website while you are reading this right now. Whether they can hack in successfully will depend on how difficult or easy you can make things for hackers to keep persisting until they find a way to get access, or decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(WordPress Security Check Screenshot source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan returns various results and information about your site …
(WP security scan results. Source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information about your WordPress site, then hackers can too.
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Being able to see which 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 potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by its hosting company. This particular site was fairly new and so had literally no value to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred within the site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security holes in your WordPress site are …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud solutions using different backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text string replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin provides a range of essential website security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 lets you scan your content and files to detect whether any code in your files has been modified, and repair the problem …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
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 content without reciprocating the favor).
Tutorials Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender WordPress security product suite also includes step-by-step training in video format and downloadable documentation that teach you exactly how to protect your site from hackers …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the many 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 plugins included in the Blog Defender product are very easy to install. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP administrator login and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is 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 WordPress plugins you can use for free to get things done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Protect your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If your site sells info products (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a website has been hacked, you can expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, blog could get closed by your host, or even blacklisted by search engines. And if that isn’t enough to have to deal with, your personal contacts can 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 a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many features to web site owners.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following areas:
- Host Security Advisory
- 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 Blocking
- Monitoring Files
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process for securing your web site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image: BlogDefender website)
Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback users have published about 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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”Since working with blogs, I… like many others, have been concerned about how to handle the constant threat of blog attacks. After having a look at Blog Defender you can’t help but become most aware of the vulnerable areas all bloggers need to protect. Blog Defender is viable WordPress blog security prevention system that offers video instruction along with 3 software plugins that are free to download. The instruction shows the optimum settings on how to use the free plugins that will allow you top level force against blog hacker attacks.” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, since Blog Defender was first released back in 2012, no websites or blogs secured with the product were hacked.
Matt Garrett, 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers currently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost you 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, thirty day, complete refund guarantee.
Software Pricing
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 of purchasing Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the software sells for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer 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 Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install These Plugins
Regardless of the 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 very secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like keeping your WP core files, WordPress plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
Adopting security policies like the one that 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 if your websites are attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major WordPress security holes without investing in expensive solutions.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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