The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and the situation is only going to get worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: Blog Defender)
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 attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website is of no interest to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites provide an opportunity to profit or benefit at your expense.
If a malicious user can exploit a way to gain control of your website, your web site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more highly-valued web sites.
The truth is that software-driven bots are probably searching for security weaknesses and trying to hack into your website at this very moment. Whether they can get into your site successfully depends on how hard or easy you will make things for hackers to continue trying until they work out a way to break in, or give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Scan Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns various results and information about your website setup …
(website security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to access 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, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories on your server can be useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about any potential security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite
Product Description
Blog Defender 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 the BlogDefender security suit began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular site was fairly new and had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside the site, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal financial information.
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
This simple example illustrates the fact that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for potential security holes …
And let’s you quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
Blog Defender comes with 3 plugins:
The first plugin in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), perform complete 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 string replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #2 performs a range of site protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your WP plugins, themes and core files to see whether your source code has been modified, and repair the problem …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your work without providing anything in return).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes seven step-by-step video training modules and PDF/DOC documentation that show you exactly how to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Ready To Start Using In Minutes
The plugins included with Blog Defender are very easy to install. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your administrator login and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY training product that will take you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can use for free to get the job done.
Some additional benefits of using the plugin include the following:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products From Theft – If you sell information products (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Deindexed By Search Engines – When a site is hacked, you should expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, website could be closed by your host, or even blacklisted in search engines. And if this isn’t painful enough, your personal contacts can be spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender offers a number of great features to website owners.
The product provides fixes for the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WP 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
- Monitor Files
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps to help secure your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Testimonials
Below are a couple of the testimonials plugin customers have written about Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since the release of Blog Defender, no Blog Defender-secured sites were hacked.
The product developer 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 developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive 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 risk-free, thirty day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
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 price of the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing shown above was correct at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin author when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing here:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use This Product
Regardless of the 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 securing your website.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security policies such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security 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 major security risks without costly solutions.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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