The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and this is getting worse.
It’s probably 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 reported that 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website or blog has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites are valuable to a malicious user.
If a malicious user can find a software flaw in your security, that web site can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target other valuable websites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are most likely trying to hack into your site while you are reading these very words. Whether they will achieve this or not, depends on how hard or easy you have made things for hackers to continue persisting until they either can discover a way to break in, or are forced to decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(WP Security Check Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns a number of results and details about your site …
(WordPress security check results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you can access all of this information, so can hackers.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
The ability 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 be useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about any security weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit 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 blog was fairly new and had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside the site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack their financial information.
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
This example should be enough to convince you that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your website are …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
Plugins
The product suite comes with 3 plugins:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your website with security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #2 performs a range of essential website security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your files and content to detect if any of your files have been tampered with, and repair the problem …
(Source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 others benefit from your hard work without offering you any benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes video tutorials plus written guides that show you exactly how to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
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 web site:
Be Up And Running In No Time
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install like every other plugin. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a practical training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins you should install to get things done without paying for unnecessary costs.
Additional benefits of using this plugin include the following:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Stolen – If you are an information product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Banned By Your Host – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, blog could get suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender make your your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets.
The product helps you fix all of the following security areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitor Files
- Tracking Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help protect your site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Source: Blog Defender)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about the Blog Defender security products:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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“Sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently!” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, since Blog Defender’s first release, no Blog Defender-secured websites were hacked.
Matt Garrett, the product developer 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.”
The war on hackers is is a constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers presently can harness. 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.
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, complete refund 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: Current pricing for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the price at the time this review was published. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use This Product
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of web security.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP installation, plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand 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 which tools can make the task of securing your installation easier.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Plugin
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