The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and this is only going to get worse.
You can safely 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 162,000 legitimate WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Screenshot: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog offers no value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites have value to a malicious user.
If a malicious user can discover a way to gain any form of control of your website or blog, that site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target other valuable websites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are probably trying to break into your blog while you are reading this article at this very moment. Whether they can do this successfully depends on how challenging you have made things for hackers or botnets to keep trying until they discover a way to get access, or give up and decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will return a number of results and information about your site setup …
(WordPress security scan results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information about your site, then so can hackers.
(Source: Blog Defender)
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 in your site can all be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any potential security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious users and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This blog had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside the server, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security holes …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product comes with three WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your WP website or blog with security …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” performs a range of site and file security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
The third plugin allows you to scan your content and files to detect if anything in your files has been altered, and fix problems …
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 others benefit from your content without providing you anything of value in return).
Blog Defender – Video Training
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes seven video training modules and PDF/DOC guides that will teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from hackers …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below are 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:
Easy Installation
The plugins are quite easy to install. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow DIY training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get things done without paying for unnecessary expenses.
Additional benefits include the following:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If you are an information product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Closed By Your Web Host And Delisted By Search Engines – When a website gets hacked, you can expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, web presence could get suspended by your host, or even blacklisted in search engines. And if this isn’t painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers many unique features to WP users.
The product covers the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- 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
- Track Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process for securing your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Image source: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have provided for the Blog Defender security products:
”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 Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs have been hacked since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012.
Matt Garrett, 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.”
The war on hackers is is a never-ending 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 provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, won’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Product 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, full 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the plugin is selling for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information:
Additional Plugin Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Get This Product
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP software, WordPress plugins and themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security policies like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your security responsibilities are as a website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress site easier.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Plugin
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