The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and this is only going to get worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: 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)
As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website or blog is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites provide an opportunity to gain some benefit at your expense.
If someone can break in and take over your website, your website can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more highly-valued sites.
The truth is that hackers are very likely looking for vulnerabilities and trying to hack into your website or blog as you are reading this page. Whether they will get in successfully or not, depends on how challenging you can make it for them to keep trying until they work out a way to get access, or are forced to give up and go look for a less protected target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test returns various results and details about your site setup …
(website security scan results. Source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information, hackers can too.
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
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 on your server are all valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and protect against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress 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 site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This particular blog had literally no value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being informed by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred within the site, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to lure visitors to the site and steal financial information.
(Source: Blog Defender)
This example shows that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
WP Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Source: BlogDefender website)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides WordPress security …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 provides a range of essential site security functions (see “Features” section below).
The third plugin scans your web site to detect if anything in your files has been found, and fix problems …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Tutorials Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender security suite also includes 7 step-by-step video tutorial modules and written documentation that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement
The Blog Defender plugins are very easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a practical and useful training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can install for free to get things done.
Additional benefits of using the plugin include:
- Protect your WordPress site 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 Theft – If you sell information products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website has been hacked, you can expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, sites could get closed by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender offers many unique features to WP users.
The product covers the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- Monitor Files
- Tracking Links
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process for securing your site, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky WordPress themes and WP plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image: Blog Defender)
Testimonials
Here are a couple of the testimonials that users have provided for the Blog Defender solution:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.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
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs were hacked since Blog Defender was first released in 2012.
Matt Garrett, the product developer 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.”
The war on hackers is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers presently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, doesn’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Plugin 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, complete money-back guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
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.
Note: Pricing for the Blog Defender product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was correct at the time this content was published. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
Regardless of the kind 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 web site.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress core files, WP plugins and themes up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security policy such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security responsibilities are as a website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is hacked, 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 more details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
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