The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is only going to get worse.
It’s 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 began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Screenshot: 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 sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a security vulnerability provides an opportunity to hackers. A vulnerable site not only presents hackers opportunities to improve their skills and claim “bragging rights” among their peers, but it can also be a valuable platform for launching denial of service attacks, distributing malware and engaging in information theft.
If a malicious user can hack and gain stealth control of your blog, the blog can then be employed to target larger and more valuable sites.
The harsh reality is that malicious bots are most likely trying to hack into your web site at this very moment. Whether they can break in or not, will depend on how difficult or easy you will make things for hackers to continue persisting until they discover a way to get access, or decide to look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress 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 …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Scan Screenshot image: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan returns various results and information about your site …
(WordPress security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the scanning tool that if you can access all of this information about your WordPress site, then hackers can too.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
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 on your server are all potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any potential security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Sites
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 developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This particular site had practically nothing to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and observing 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.
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
This example shows that that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The product suite includes 3 plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous 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 your website or blog with security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides a range of vital file and site protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” scans your web site to detect whether any code in your files has been tampered with, and fix the problem …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” 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 others benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Tutorials Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes videos plus downloadable documentation that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
For more details go here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use
The plugins included with Blog Defender install like any plugin. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugins to your Plugins folder via your administrator account and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a practical and useful training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get things done without incurring additional expenses.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you’re an information product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site gets hacked, you should expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, site can get suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. And if that is not painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details and financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender was designed to lock down your site and keep your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender helps you fix the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitor Files
- Track Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process for securing your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Here are a few of the testimonials plugin customers have submitted for the Blog Defender security products:
”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
***
”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-protected sites were hacked since Blog Defender’s original release.
Matt 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers currently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
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, 30 day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Licensing 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.
Note: The cost to purchase the Blog Defender product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the software sells for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin developer when you visit the product site and there may be 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.
In Conclusion
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web sites is something you cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress software, WordPress plugins and WordPress themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting security policies like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities are as the 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 how to avoid major security risks without investing in expensive solutions.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress Websites
***
***