The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation 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.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Source: BlogDefender site)
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 WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to gain some benefit at your expense.
If a malicious user can find a way to remotely take control of your website, your website or blog can then be employed as a “bot” to attack other valued websites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are very likely trying to hack into your website or blog right now. Whether they can be successful depends on how difficult you can make things for hackers or bots to keep persisting until they find how to get in, or give up and decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Product image: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan returns various results and details about your site setup …
(website security check results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your WordPress site, so can hackers.
(Source: Blog Defender)
The ability 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 valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potential security vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Suite
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into. This particular site had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience is evidence that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your WordPress installation are …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
Plugins
The product suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
The plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud storage solutions using different backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” performs a range of vital site and file protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
The third plugin scans your content and files to detect whether your source code has been changed, and fix the problem …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Step-By-Step Tutorial Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven video training modules and training documentation that show you exactly how to protect your site from hackers …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Fast Installation
The plugins included with Blog Defender are quite easy to install. Simply upload them to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins to install to get the job done.
Additional benefits of the plugin include the following:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Secure Your Info Products – If you are a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked 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 problems and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, blog can be suspended by your host, or even blocked by search engines. Additionally, your contacts can be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender was created to lock down your site and keep your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender addresses the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help protect your site, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Testimonials
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments plugin users have written 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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”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Plugin Tips
According to the product’s site, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no websites protected with the product were hacked.
Matt Garrett 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.”
Cybersecurity is an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers can currently 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 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 no-risk, 30 day, 100% refund 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: The cost of purchasing the Blog Defender plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price when this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot ignore the importance of securing your website or blog.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress software, plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your website easier.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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