The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and things are getting worse.
It’s 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 reported that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Image: 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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a security vulnerability can can provide an opportunity to hackers. A compromised blog not only provides hackers opportunities to improve their skills and claim “bragging rights” from their peers, but it can also acts as a resource for launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, spreading malware and participating in information theft.
If someone can hack and gain remote access of your website or blog, that site can then be employed to target more highly-valued websites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are probably searching for security exploits and trying to hack into your site as you are reading this. Whether they can hack into your site will depend on how hard or easy you will make it for hackers to continue persisting until they work out a way to get in, or are forced to decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will display a number of results and details about your site setup …
(WordPress security check results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Being able 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 can all be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any potential holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite 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-driven site he set up for his mother got hacked into. This particular site was quite new and so had practically no value to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within his site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to lure unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack their financial details.
(Source: Blog Defender)
This simple example provides the valuable lesson that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security holes in your web site are …
And let’s you fix these quickly …
Plugins
The product suite includes 3 plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud storage solutions using different backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
The plugin provides a range of site security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans your plugins, themes, core files and content to detect whether anything in your files has been found, and fix any problems it detects …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs 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).
Video Training
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 step-by-step video training modules and PDF/DOC guides that will show you exactly what to do to protect your website from hackers …
(Product image: BlogDefender site)
Learn more here:
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 web site:
Be Up And Running In Very Little Time
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like any other plugin. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow DIY step-by-step training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins to use to get things done without incurring additional or unnecessary expenses.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products From Being Shared Around The Net – If you are an information product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Web Host And Deindexed By Search Engines – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. As a result, your, web presence could be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. Additionally, your contacts can end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender was created to locks down your site and keeps your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender provides fixes for all of the following areas:
- Host Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Monitoring
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help secure your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
User Feedback
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have written about Blog Defender:
”Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re too small or not important enough to be hacked! I’ve found out that I’ve had bots in the backend of my sites, making alterations and changing things around, so there’s no telling what damage they’ve caused. I’ve had my main blog for over 3 years now, and the thought of losing all the hard work I’ve put into it is just devastating, not to mention costly! I have a shared hosting plan, so of course once they can get into one site, they can also access the others. Luckily, I now have the procedures detailed within Blog Defender in place so that I can prevent the majority of this ever happening again. Once you’ve secured one site it gets a lot quicker to secure all subsequent sites. With Blog Defender, you get easy-to-follow videos, along with a detailed checklist that you can downloadf. You are literally walked through the process of securing your blog against hackers, which has given me real peace of mind. This is a growing issue that all website owners are facing; so it isn’t going to go away. Prevention is better than cure, particularly as some of the nastier hacks around can literally ruin your business. So do yourself a favour – get your sites protected now, before it’s too late.” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.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 the product’s website, since Blog Defender was first released back in 2012, no sites secured by the solution were hacked.
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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers can currently access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender 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.
Software Price
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.. Price = $47.00.
Note: The cost of purchasing the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing above was current when this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the product developer when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Buy This Product
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 website security.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your security responsibilities are as a site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress website easier.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
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