The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide 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 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 162,000 WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
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 reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a security vulnerability can present an opportunity to hackers. No web site is completely safe from being attacked by hackers. Large, medium and small sites, personal blogs, government sites … even web sites owned by web security and anti-hacking experts can and have been targeted.
If hackers can exploit a security opening in your system that lets them remotely control your website, the web site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target larger and more valued web sites.
The truth is that software-driven bots are probably trying to break into your site as you are reading this. Whether they will successfully break into your site depends on how hard you will make it for hackers or botnets to keep persisting until they can work out how to get in, or give up and go look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check returns a number of results and details about your site setup …
(WP security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information about your WordPress website, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
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 can be valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender
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 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 by its webhost. This blog had literally no value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside the site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
This simple example illustrates the fact that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security holes in your WordPress installation are …
And let’s you easily fix these …
WP Plugins
The product suite includes three WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
The “WordPress Security” plugin provides a range of essential website protection functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” scans your plugins, WP themes and WP core files to detect whether any code in your files has been modified, and repair any problems it uncovers …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs 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 offering you any reciprocal value in return).
Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender security suite also includes training videos and downloadable documentation that will teach you exactly how to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Go here to learn more:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins install just like any regular WordPress plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a DIY step-by-step 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 WordPress plugins you can install for free to get the job done.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Avoid Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell a digital product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Closed By Your Web Host And Delisted By Search Engines – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, website could be closed by your host, or even blacklisted by search engines. In addition, your contacts can end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender offers a number of features to website owners.
The product covers the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- Track Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps to help protect your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image source: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have published about Blog Defender:
”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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”I sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently. Okay, it was my fault for not securing things more, BUT… I didn’t have a handy, current reference like this to turn to for quick help either.;)” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no websites protected with the solution have been hacked.
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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers can currently harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require 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, 30 day, complete money-back guarantee.
Plugin Cost
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 price of the Blog Defender plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was correct when this review was written. This may not be the actual price set 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 current pricing details here:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Download The Product
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 site is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WP plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security policy like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your site easier.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
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