The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and things are getting worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’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 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot image: 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website or blog with a vulnerability presents an opportunity to hackers. If you think that the information in your site offers little to no value to hackers, think again. Business web sites, personal blogs, government websites … even web sites owned by web security experts can and have been targeted.
If a malicious user can access and gain remote access and control of your website or blog, the website can then be used as a “bot” to attack other highly-valued sites.
The truth is that hackers are very likely looking for exploits and trying to break into your website as you are reading this right now. Whether they will successfully break into your site or not, will depend on how difficult you will make things for hackers to continue persisting until they either find how to get access, or give up and decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(WP Security Check Screenshot source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will return various results and information about your website setup …
(Hackertarget – WP security check results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, hackers can too.
(Screenshot image: 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 can all be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about any exploitable vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious users and bots.
Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Sites
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress 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-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by its hosting company. This particular blog was almost brand new and had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of this after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within his server, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience should be enough to convince you that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for potential security vulnerabilities …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite includes three WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
This plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud backup solutions using different backup methods, schedule complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides your site with security …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 performs a range of vital site security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your plugins, WordPress themes and core files to detect whether your source code has been modified, and fix any problems it finds …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without offering anything in return).
Blog Defender – Tutorials Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 video training modules plus printable documentation that will teach you exactly how to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
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 site:
Be Up And Running In Very Little Time
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like any plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator account and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY step-by-step training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins to use to get the job done inexpensively.
Additional benefits include:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, 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 an information product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Host – When a site gets hacked, you can expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, website or blog can get closed by your host, or even blacklisted in search engines. Additionally, your personal contacts can end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender provides many features to WordPress users.
The product addresses the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- 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 WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help protect your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Image source: Blog Defender)
Testimonials From Plugin Customers
Below are just a few of the testimonials that customers have submitted for the Blog Defender security suite:
”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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”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
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no Blog Defender-protected websites have been hacked since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012.
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 information and tools that developers can currently access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than many premium 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, full money-back 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: The price of the Blog Defender software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the plugin retails for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin seller when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
What We Recommend
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 website security.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like keeping your WP software, WP plugins and themes up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your site is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying for costly solutions.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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