The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and this is only going to get worse.
It’s probably safe to 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-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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 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.
You may think that your website or blog offers no value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites are valuable to a malicious user.
If someone can find a web software vulnerability, the website can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyber attack against more valued websites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are most likely trying to hack into your website as you are reading this article at this very moment. Whether they will do this successfully will depend on how difficult you can make it for hackers and bots to continue trying until they discover how to get access, or are forced to give up and decide to 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 check …
(WordPress Security Scan Screenshot: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will yield various results and details about your website …
(website security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information about your blog, then so can hackers.
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Being able 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 in your site can be useful information to hackers, as this informs them about potential security weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by its webhost. This particular blog was quite new and so had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to lure visitors to the site and hijack Paypal account information.
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
This simple example provides the valuable lesson that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security holes …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
WP Plugins
The product suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), schedule complete 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.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin performs a range of essential file and site protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Plugin #3 lets you scan your content and files to see if your source code has been changed, and fix the problem …
(Screenshot: 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 people benefit from your work without providing you anything of benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Video Training
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender WP security suite also includes 7 training modules in video format and downloadable guides that show you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use
The plugins are really easy to install. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your WP admin area and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
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 things up, and even which free plugins to use to get things done without incurring extra expenses.
Additional benefits include:
- Protect your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If your site sells an info product (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a website is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, site could be closed by your host, or even deindexed in search engines. Additionally, your contacts could be 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.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender make your your WordPress site invisible to hackers and malicious bots.
Blog Defender provides fixes for all of the following areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- Monitor Files
- Track Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process for securing 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 image: Blog Defender)
Testimonials From Users
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments users have written about the Blog Defender plugin:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, no sites protected with the solution were hacked since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012.
Matt Garrett, 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 never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Product 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 Blog Defender product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software sells for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like keeping your WP core files, WordPress plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security policy like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your sites are attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress website easier.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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