The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is getting 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 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Image source: 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 websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website or blog has no value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites have value to a malicious user.
If a hacker can find a software security flaw, the site can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyberattack against larger and more valuable web sites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are trying to break into your web site at this very moment. Whether they will achieve this or not, depends on how difficult you have made things for hackers and bots to keep persisting until they either work out a way to break in, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Check Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your site setup …
(website security scan results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to access all of this information about your WordPress website, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
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 can all be potentially valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit 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 had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and observing 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 his site.
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience should be enough to illustrate the fact that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your WordPress site are …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins
The product suite includes three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based solutions using a number of backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides your website or blog with security …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” performs a range of essential site and file protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” allows you to scan your content and files to detect whether code in your files has been tampered with, and fix any problems it uncovers …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” 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 content without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven video training modules plus training guides that will show you exactly how to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Source: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below 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 web site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins install just like any WordPress plugin. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a do-it-yourself training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get the job done.
Some additional benefits of the plugin include the following:
- Protect your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you are a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a website gets 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, account could get closed by your host, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender provides a number of features to WP users.
Blog Defender provides fixes for all of the following issues:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps for securing your website, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Source: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that customers have provided for Blog Defender:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.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 the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, since Blog Defender was first released, no websites using Blog Defender have been hacked.
Matt Garrett, the product developer also 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers currently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most 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 no-risk, thirty day, 100% 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: Current pricing for Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current price when this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the product author when you visit the website 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 help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Download This Product
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like keeping your WP installation, plugins and WordPress themes up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps 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 or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without paying a lot of money.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution
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