The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and the situation is getting worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot: 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your site provides little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites provide an opportunity to gain some advantage at your expense.
If a hacker can discover a software vulnerability in your security, that site can then be employed to target more valued web sites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are trying to hack into your website while you are reading these very words. Whether they will do this successfully or not, will depend on how hard you have made it for hackers or botnets to keep persisting until they work out a way to get access, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Check Source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will return various results and information about your website setup …
(WordPress security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to access all of this information about your website, hackers can too.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Being able 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 potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and protect against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Blogs
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 developer of BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular blog was new and had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside the site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Source: BlogDefender website)
Matt’s experience shows that that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for security holes …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite of products comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, external servers and popular cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides a range of essential file and site protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your files and content to detect whether anything in your files has been changed, and repair the problem …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into 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).
Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes video guides plus written documentation that show you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from malicious users …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Here 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 site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like every 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 is an easy-to-follow DIY step-by-step training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get the job done.
Some additional benefits of using the plugin include:
- Protect your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Avoid Intellectual Property Theft – If your site sells information products (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website is hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, sites can get closed by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. Additionally, your contacts could be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides a number of great features to web site owners.
The product helps you fix all of the following areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WordPress 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
- Monitoring Files
- Track Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help secure your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have provided for Blog Defender:
”This is probably one of those times you ask yourself ‘do I really need this product?’ Let’s face it, on the surface it’s not going to immediately put more money in your pocket or even add some cool new gizmo to your site… The truth is yes you do and you need it now. I’ve been in the online business for 10+ years and had my fair share of hacked sites which have cost me time and money (lots of it)…I’ve also seen a good number of people have their reputations and entire businesses left in tatters when their sites have been hacked. Right now is the time to act, because when it’s too late, well basically you’ll be screwed (and you’ll regret the day you passed over such a great opportunity to protect yourself for so little). And by the way, if you think your web host will come to your rescue think again, you’ll be on your own, paying to put things right and suffering the cost of lost sales and business. This is a seriously good product and if you rely on WordPress to make you money online then it’s nothing less than essential. Buy it, follow Matt’s expert advice and don’t end up another victim!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Plugin Tips
According to the product’s site, no Blog Defender-protected websites have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release in 2012.
Matt 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 that developers currently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender 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 no-risk, thirty day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Price
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: Pricing details of Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing when this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin author when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details here:
Additional Plugin Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install The Plugins
Regardless of the 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 secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress core files, plugins and themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security policy like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security responsibilities are as the website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying for costly solutions.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress
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