The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s getting worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 162,000 WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Image source: 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)
According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every blog with a security vulnerability provides some type of opportunity to hackers. An unsecured blog not only provides hackers opportunities to improve their skills and win “respect” among their peers, but it can also acts as a valuable resource for distributed attacks, distributing malware and participating in information theft.
If someone can discover a way to gain access and control of your website, the website can then be used as a “bot” in a planned cyber-attack against more valuable websites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are very likely trying to break into your website or blog at this very moment. Whether they will successfully get in depends on how difficult or easy you can make it for hackers to keep trying until they work out how to break in, or give up and go look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Screenshot source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan returns various results and details about your website setup …
(website security check results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your blog, hackers can too.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
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 are all useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about potentially exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular blog had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place inside the site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and steal Paypal account information.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
This simple example demonstrates that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your WordPress installation are …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite comes with 3 plugins:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods, automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides a range of website protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your plugins, WP themes, core files and content to see whether your source code has been tampered with, and repair the problem …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without providing anything of value in return).
Tutorials Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender WordPress security suite also includes seven step-by-step video training modules plus downloadable guides that will show you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below we have listed just a few 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 Configure
The plugins are very easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your admin user account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself 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 plugins you can use for free to get the job done inexpensively.
Additional benefits include the following:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Secure Your Info Products – If your site sells digital products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a website has been hacked, 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. In the meantime, your, web presence can be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender was created to locks down your site and keeps your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following issues:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- 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 Blocking
- Monitoring Files
- Monitoring Links
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help protect your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image source: BlogDefender website)
User Testimonials
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that users have published about the Blog Defender security suite:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”Since working with blogs, I… like many others, have been concerned about how to handle the constant threat of blog attacks. After having a look at Blog Defender you can’t help but become most aware of the vulnerable areas all bloggers need to protect. Blog Defender is viable WordPress blog security prevention system that offers video instruction along with 3 software plugins that are free to download. The instruction shows the optimum settings on how to use the free plugins that will allow you top level force against blog hacker attacks.” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, since Blog Defender’s first release, no sites protected by the solution were hacked.
Matt Garrett, 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers currently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’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.
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.. Price = $47.00.
Note: Pricing details of this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing at the time this content was published. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software seller when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
The Bottom Line
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of securing your website or blog.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP installation, WP plugins and WordPress themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.
Adopting security policies such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major WordPress security holes without paying for costly solutions.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress Sites
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