The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and this is only going to get worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 162,000 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to benefit or profit at your expense.
If hackers can break in and gain complete control of your website, the blog can then be employed to attack larger and more highly-valued sites.
The reality is that malicious bots are trying to break into your blog right now. Whether they can do this successfully or not, depends on how hard you have made it for hackers to continue trying until they work out a way to get access, 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 Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Website Security Check Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will return a number of results and information about your website setup …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your blog, then so can hackers.
(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 can all be useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about any potential security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This site was fairly new and had literally nothing to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of this after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within the server, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to lure visitors to the site and steal their financial details.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience shows that that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security vulnerabilities …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security product includes three plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud-based solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), do bulk text replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #2 performs a range of site and file protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans your WordPress website or blog to see whether code in your files has been altered, and fix the problem …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without offering anything of value in return).
Training Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender WP security suite also includes a number of training videos plus written documentation that show you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here 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 site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up
The plugins install like any other WordPress plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugins folder via your admin account and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a practical and useful training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get the job done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits of using this plugin include:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you are an info product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. During this time, your, website can get closed by your host, or even blocked in 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 more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender was designed to keep your sites and your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender covers the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- 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
- Monitoring Files
- Link Monitoring
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help protect your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky WordPress themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Product image source: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Customers
Here are a few of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have published about the Blog Defender plugin:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” 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, since Blog Defender was first released, no Blog Defender-secured websites 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.”
The war on hackers is an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers presently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need 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.
Blog Defender 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 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the Blog Defender plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual price charged by the product author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Get The Product
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of securing your website or blog.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WP plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress installation easier.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
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