The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, 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 only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(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)
According to 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 site is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that every website has some value to a malicious user.
If hackers can exploit a flaw in the security and gain complete control of your blog, that blog can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyberattack against more valuable web sites.
The truth is that malicious bots are probably searching for security exploits and trying to hack into your blog at this very moment. Whether they can do this successfully or not, depends on how difficult you have made things for them to continue persisting until they can either discover how to get access, or give up and go look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your WordPress site …
(WordPress security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to access all of this information, then hackers can too.
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
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 are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potential vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Solution
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began looking for a way to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This particular site was not being used and so had practically 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 suspicious activity had taken place within his site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack their financial details.
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience should be enough to convince you that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your web site are …
And let’s you fix these quickly and easily …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The product suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
The plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud solutions using a number of backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your 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.
Plugin #2 provides your site with security …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
The “WP Security” plugin performs a range of website security functions (see “Features” section below).
The third plugin lets you scan your website to see if any of your files have been modified, and repair any problems found …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your content without offering you any reciprocal benefit or value in return).
Blog Defender – Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender WordPress security suite also includes seven step-by-step video tutorial modules and downloadable documentation that will show you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up
The plugins included with Blog Defender install like any other plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get the job done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Shared Around The Net – If you sell an information product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a website is hacked, you should expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, website or blog can be closed by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. In addition, your personal contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many features to WP users.
Blog Defender provides fixes for the following areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help secure your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image: BlogDefender site)
User Feedback
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback plugin users have written about the Blog Defender solution:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
***
”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-secured websites or blogs have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released in 2012.
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.”
Cybersecurity is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most 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 risk-free, 30 day, complete 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.
Please Note: Pricing details of the Blog Defender product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the product sells for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the product developer when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
What We Recommend
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your site is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like keeping your WP installation, plugins and themes up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security policies like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities are as the site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without paying a lot of money.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress Websites
***
***