The scale 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 only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Source: 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)
As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known 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 site provides little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to benefit at your expense.
If a malicious user can hack and gain remote access and control of your website or blog, your site can then be employed as a “bot” to attack more valuable websites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are most likely trying to break into your web site while you are reading this page. Whether they can hack in will depend on how challenging you have made it for hackers or botnets to continue persisting until they can discover how to break in, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less protected 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 site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Check Product image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will yield various results and details about your website …
(Hackertarget – 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, hackers can too.
(Source: Blog Defender)
The ability 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 can be valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about any holes or weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Suite
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 developer of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into. This particular site had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside the server, as well as the addition of several malicious files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience is evidence that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your web site are …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
WordPress Plugins
The product suite comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
The plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” performs a range of essential website security functions (see “Features” section below).
The third plugin lets you scan your WP plugins, themes and core files to see if any code in your files has been altered, and fix any problems it detects …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Training Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender WP security suite also includes a number of training videos and PDF/DOC guides that will show you exactly how to protect your website from malicious users …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Learn more about this plugin here:
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 website:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product suite are very easy to install. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a practical and useful training product that will take you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can install for free to get things done without paying for unnecessary costs.
Some additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If your site sells digital products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Banned By Search Engines – When a site has been 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 the issues these have caused. Your, sites could be suspended by your host, or even blacklisted in search engines. And if that is not painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender was created to locks down your site and keeps your business safe and secure 24/7.
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
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitor Files
- Monitoring Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help protect your site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Testimonials From Plugin Customers
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback plugin customers have submitted regarding the Blog Defender solution:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”In the past month alone, I’ve had 3 niche blogs hacked, costing me hundreds of dollars in lost sales – all of which could have been avoided if I followed the steps in this training. I can tell you, there’s nothing worse than spending months building up a blog, adding posts every few days, and then finding it all gone in an instant. The great thing about these ‘over the shoulder’ videos is that you get to see exactly how to do everything, so it doesn’t matter if you’re technically challenged. Just copy what you see on the screen, and then relax knowing your blogs are safe. (Just one of the tips in the first video alone could probably have prevented my blogs getting hacked) I even noticed one or two tips in there that help with SEO too … so following these videos could even bring your blogs more traffic!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-secured websites or blogs have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release.
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 is a perpetual game of cat and mouse 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 require constant attention, doesn’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender 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, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
Blog Defender is normally available with a personal license only for use 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: Current pricing for this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing when this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin author when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
We Recommend
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your sites is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP installation, WordPress plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without paying a lot of money.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
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