The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and the situation is only going to get worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked 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)
According to leading 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.
Every blog with a vulnerability has some value to hackers. A vulnerable website or blog presents hackers with a valuable platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and use your site to defraud others.
If hackers can discover a security flaw, the site can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyberattack against larger and more valuable web sites.
The truth is that malicious bots are searching for vulnerabilities and trying to break into your web site as you are reading this. Whether they can be successful depends on how hard you have made it for hackers and bots to continue persisting until they can find how to get in, or give up and decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(WordPress Security Check Image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check returns various results and details about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can freely access all of this information, so can hackers.
(Source: Blog Defender)
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 useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about potential security weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into. This particular blog was almost brand new and so had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within the site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and steal their financial details.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your website are …
And let’s you fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product includes 3 plugins:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
This plugin lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud-based solutions using a number of backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 performs a range of vital website protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your WP plugins, WP themes and WP core files to see whether anything in your files has been found, and repair any problems it detects …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
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 people benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Training Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes a number of video guides plus PDF/DOC documentation that will show you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below are just some of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure
The plugins included with Blog Defender install like every plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY training product that will walk 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 inexpensively.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If your site sells an info product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Banned By Your Host – When a website gets hacked, you should expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, blog could be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, your contacts could be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender hide your website or blog from hackers and botnets.
The product helps you fix the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Monitoring Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help secure your site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image source: Blog Defender)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials that customers have written about Blog Defender:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no Blog Defender-secured sites 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.”
Cybersecurity is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers presently can access. 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 most web 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, full money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
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.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: The price of the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was current at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software seller when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details here:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use This Product
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting security policies like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your security responsibilities are as the site owner, 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 WordPress installation easier.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Solution
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