The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and the situation is getting worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 160,000+ legitimate WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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)
According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website or blog with a security vulnerability presents an opportunity to hackers. No blog is immune from cyber-attacks. Business web sites, personal blogs, government web sites … even websites owned by online security and anti-hacking experts can and have been targeted.
If a malicious user can exploit a security vulnerability that lets them gain control of your website, your website can then be used as a “bot” to attack other highly-valued web sites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are scouring for weaknesses and trying to hack into your web site as you are reading this page at this very moment. Whether they will successfully get into your site or not, depends on how difficult or easy you have made things for them to keep persisting until they either can find a way to get in, or decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Scan Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan will yield various results and information about your website …
(WordPress security check results. Source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can freely access all of this information about your blog, hackers can too.
(Product image: Blog Defender)
The ability to see which version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories on your server can be valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potential holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
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 by the hosting company. This particular site had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place inside the server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal their financial details.
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
This example demonstrates that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your web site are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite includes three WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
The plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud backup solutions using a number of backup methods, automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides your WordPress site with security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” performs a range of essential website security functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” lets you scan WordPress sites to see if anything in your files has been tampered with, and repair any problems found …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes seven step-by-step video tutorial modules plus written documentation that will show you exactly what to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Be Up And Running In No Time
The Blog Defender plugins install like every other plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow DIY training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins to install to get things done without incurring additional costs.
Additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you are an information product author (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Host – When a website gets hacked, you should expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. During this time, your, websites can get closed by your host, or even deindexed by search engines. Additionally, your contacts could be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many features to website owners.
The product addresses the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- File Monitoring
- Monitor Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help protect your your WordPress installation, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Below are some of the testimonials customers have provided for the Blog Defender security suite:
”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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”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, since Blog Defender was released back in 2012, no Blog Defender-protected sites have been hacked.
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 knowledge and technologies that developers currently have access to. 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 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 risk-free, thirty day, complete refund guarantee.
Software Price
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: The cost of purchasing the Blog Defender software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price shown above was current when this content was written. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product author when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install These Plugins
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web site is something you simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WP plugins and themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious 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 to help prevent your sites being hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without costly solutions.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Web Sites
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