The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and this is getting 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 web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image: 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.
Every site with a vulnerability can be an opportunity to hackers. An unsecured site presents hackers with a platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and use your site to defraud others.
If hackers can discover a vulnerability, that website can then be used as a “bot” in a planned cyber-attack against other valued websites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are most likely looking for vulnerabilities and trying to break into your blog as you are reading this page right now. Whether they can do this successfully will depend on how difficult or easy you can make it for hackers or botnets to continue persisting until they discover how to get access, or decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan returns a number of results and details about your website …
(WP security check results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the scanning tool that if you are able to access all of this information, hackers can too.
(Product image 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 in your site can be useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother got hacked into. This site had literally no value to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within the server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive visitors to the site and steal their Paypal account details.
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience shows that that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security holes in your web site are …
And let’s you easily fix these …
WordPress Plugins
The product suite includes three plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and cloud backup solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), do mass text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides your web site with security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin performs a range of vital site and file protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” allows you to scan your WordPress web site to see if any code in your files has been tampered with, and repair the problem …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #3 “WordPress 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 others benefit from your work without offering anything of value in return).
Blog Defender – Tutorials Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 video training modules plus printable guides that will teach you exactly what to do to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
More info:
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 website:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up
The Blog Defender plugins are quite easy to install. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your administrator section and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a useful DIY training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins to use to get the job done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- 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.
- Secure Your Info Products – If you’re a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site has been hacked, you should expect to go through a great deal of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, web presence can get suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. Additionally, your personal contacts can be spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender was designed to keep your sites and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product provides fixes for all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Monitor Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help secure your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Image source: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Here are just a few of the testimonials and comments that customers have provided for Blog Defender:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.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’s site, no websites or blogs using Blog Defender were hacked since Blog Defender’s original release.
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.”
The war on hackers is is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require 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 risk-free, thirty day, 100% refund 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: The price of Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the pricing when this article was published. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product author when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, 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, web security is something you simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, plugins and WordPress themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your responsibilities are as the website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without costly solutions.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
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