The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, 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 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 over 160,000+ WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every blog with a security vulnerability presents an opportunity to hackers. A compromised web site not only provides newbie hackers opportunities to improve their skills and claim “bragging rights” from their peers, but it can also serve as a resource for launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, spreading malware and defrauding site visitors through information theft.
If a hacker can exploit a software vulnerability in your security, the blog can then be used to target other valued web sites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are most likely scouring for security exploits and trying to hack into your website or blog while you are reading this right now. Whether they will successfully hack into your site depends on how challenging you can make things for hackers to keep persisting until they either can discover how 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?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns a number of results and details about your website setup …
(WP security scan results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information about your site, hackers can too.
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
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 in your site can be potentially useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about potentially exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This particular blog had practically no value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience shows that that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your WordPress installation are …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
WP Plugins
Blog Defender comes with 3 plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
The plugin provides a range of essential site and file protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 lets you scan your content and files to see if anything in your files has been modified, and fix problems …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes step-by-step tutorial videos plus printable guides that will show you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like any other plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a DIY step-by-step training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get things done.
Additional plugin benefits include:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you’re an information product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Closed By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, websites can get closed by your host, or even deindexed by search engines. In addition, 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 much more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many unique features to site owners.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitor Files
- Track Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help secure your web site, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image: BlogDefender website)
User Testimonials
Below are just a few of the testimonials and comments that users have submitted for Blog Defender:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
***
”My business is built around the WordPress platform and I’m embarrassed to admin I’ve been slack in the security department. However, Matt’s training soon put that right! I followed each detailed video to the letter and discovered some incredible security tricks and plugins I’d never heard of before. Better still, all the plugins were free to download too! The end result? My WordPress membership site is now locked down tighter than Parkhurst at midnight and if anybody tries hacking it, I’ll be the first to know! thanks again Matt, I’m off to secure the rest of the blogs in my portfolio!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no websites or blogs using Blog Defender have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
The product developer 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 ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers can get their hands on. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress 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.
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 no-risk, thirty day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: Pricing details of Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the pricing at the time this article was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the product developer when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details here:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use This Product
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your websites is something you simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WP installation, plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, 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 how to avoid all the major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
For full details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Product Suite
***
***