The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and this is getting worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Screenshot 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)
According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web 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. An unsecured website or blog presents malicious users with a platform to launch DDoS attacks, spread malware and use your website to defraud online users.
If a hacker can find a vulnerability and remotely take control of your site, your web site can then be used as a “bot” in a planned cyber-attack against more valued sites.
The reality is that hackers are most likely trying to hack into your website or blog while you are reading this page right now. Whether they will be successful or not, will depend on how hard or easy you will make things for hackers and botnets to keep trying until they either can work out how to get in, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Check Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will return various results and information about your website setup …
(WP security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your blog, then hackers can too.
(Image source: Blog Defender)
The ability 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 on your server can all be potentially useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential 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 make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This site had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside the server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal financial information.
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
This simple example shows that that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security holes …
And let’s you fix these quickly …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite includes 3 plugins:
The first plugin in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Source: Blog Defender)
This plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides your web site with security …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
The “WP Security” plugin provides a range of essential site protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” lets you scan your WordPress plugins, themes, WordPress core files and content to detect if code in your files has been found, and fix problems …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes seven step-by-step video training modules and PDF/DOC documentation that will show you exactly how to protect your website from hackers …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Installation Is Easy & Quick
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like every plugin. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should install to get the job done.
Some additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Theft – If you’re an info product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a website has been 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 or blog can get closed by your host, or even deindexed by search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender offers many features to WP users.
Blog Defender helps you fix the following security 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
- Monitoring Files
- Link Monitoring
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process for securing your site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
Testimonials
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have published about the Blog Defender security products:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, since Blog Defender was first released, no websites secured by the product were hacked.
Matt 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 an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers presently can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t require 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.
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 risk-free, 30 day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: Price details for Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price shown above was correct when this content was published. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product seller when you visit the website 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 help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
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 simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes 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 major security risks without investing in expensive solutions.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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