The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation is only going to get worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every web site with a vulnerability presents an opportunity to hackers. 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 web security. Corporate web sites, personal blogs, government websites … even websites owned by online security and anti-hacking experts can and have been targeted.
If someone can discover a web software vulnerability that allows them to gain remote control of your web site, the website can then be employed to attack larger and more valuable sites.
The truth is that malicious bots are very likely looking for security weaknesses and trying to break into your web site as you are reading these very words. Whether they can do this successfully or not, will depend on how difficult or easy you can make it for them to keep persisting until they find how to get access, or are forced to decide to look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Website Security Scan Image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will return various results and details about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can freely access all of this information about your WordPress website, then hackers can too.
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
The ability to see what version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories in your site are all useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and botnets.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This blog was not being used and had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside the server, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack their financial information.
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
This example should be enough to convince you that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for security holes …
And let’s you fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
WP Plugins
The product suite includes three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the product suite provides automated backups …
(Source: Blog Defender)
The plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud backup solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides your WP web site with security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides a range of vital site protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans WordPress sites to see whether any code in your files has been modified, and repair the problem …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro 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 others benefit from your work without providing you anything of value in return).
Blog Defender – Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 step-by-step video tutorial modules plus PDF/DOC documentation that will teach you exactly what to do to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
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 site:
Fast Installation
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like any regular WP plugin. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin user section and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a practical DIY training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get the job done.
Some additional benefits of using the plugin include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If your site sells a digital product (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Web Host And Delisted By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, site could be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. Additionally, your contacts could end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender was created to keep your sites and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product helps you fix the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitoring Files
- Tracking Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps for securing your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Image source: BlogDefender website)
Testimonials
Below are a couple of the testimonials that plugin customers have written about Blog Defender:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”I sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently. Okay, it was my fault for not securing things more, BUT… I didn’t have a handy, current reference like this to turn to for quick help either.;)” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin’s site, since Blog Defender’s first release, no websites protected by the product were hacked.
Matt also states on his site …
“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 information and technologies that developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress 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.
Product 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, complete refund guarantee.
Product Cost
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 this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Buy This Product
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP software, WP plugins and WP themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting security policies such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your responsibilities are as the website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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