The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is getting worse.
It’s 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 began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image: 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)
According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a security vulnerability can present an opportunity to hackers. A vulnerable blog not only presents newbie hackers opportunities to improve their hacking skills and win “respect” from their peers, but it can also serve as a valuable platform for launching DDoS attacks, distributing malware and participating in information theft.
If a malicious user can discover a security vulnerability in your system that lets them take over your web site, your web site can then be used to attack other valued web sites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are most likely scouring for security weaknesses and trying to hack into your blog while you are reading this page right now. Whether they can break into your site or not, will depend on how difficult or easy you will make things for them to continue persisting until they can discover how to get access, or are forced to decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Scan Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns various results and details about your WordPress installation …
(website security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to freely access all of this information, so can hackers.
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
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 on your server can be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Websites & Blogs
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 creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This site was not being used and so had literally no value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within the server, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience should be enough to convince you that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security weaknesses in your WordPress installation are …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
WordPress Plugins
Blog Defender includes three WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides WordPress security …
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
This plugin performs a range of website protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
The third plugin scans your plugins, themes and core files to see whether your source code has been modified, and repair any problems found …
(Product 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 people benefit from your content without offering anything in return).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes seven videos and written documentation that show you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
More info:
Benefits
Here are 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 Use
The plugins are really easy to install. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a 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 WordPress plugins you can install for free to get the job done without incurring extra expenses.
Some additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Secure 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 Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If your site sells info products (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, blog can get closed by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. And if this is not painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business and financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender offers many features to WordPress users.
The product covers the following security areas:
- 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
- Monitoring Files
- Link Monitoring
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help protect your site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Source: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have published about the Blog Defender product suite:
”Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re too small or not important enough to be hacked! I’ve found out that I’ve had bots in the backend of my sites, making alterations and changing things around, so there’s no telling what damage they’ve caused. I’ve had my main blog for over 3 years now, and the thought of losing all the hard work I’ve put into it is just devastating, not to mention costly! I have a shared hosting plan, so of course once they can get into one site, they can also access the others. Luckily, I now have the procedures detailed within Blog Defender in place so that I can prevent the majority of this ever happening again. Once you’ve secured one site it gets a lot quicker to secure all subsequent sites. With Blog Defender, you get easy-to-follow videos, along with a detailed checklist that you can downloadf. You are literally walked through the process of securing your blog against hackers, which has given me real peace of mind. This is a growing issue that all website owners are facing; so it isn’t going to go away. Prevention is better than cure, particularly as some of the nastier hacks around can literally ruin your business. So do yourself a favour – get your sites protected now, before it’s too late.” 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 websites secured by the solution were hacked since Blog Defender was originally released.
Matt Garrett 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers can currently get their hands on. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many 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.
Product 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 for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the plugin sells for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the product developer when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install These Plugins
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your site.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, plugins and themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, 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 security risks without costly solutions.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress Websites
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