The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and things are getting worse.
You can safely 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 160,000+ legitimate WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
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 WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a security vulnerability can can provide an opportunity to hackers. A compromised web site not only offers hackers opportunities to improve their hacking skills and claim “bragging rights” amongst their peers, but it can also acts as a valuable resource for denial of service attacks, distributing malware and engaging in information theft.
If hackers can discover a way to take over and control your web site, that web site can then be used to attack other valued sites.
The reality is that hackers are trying to hack into your blog while you are reading this right now. Whether they will hack in successfully or not, depends on how hard you can make things for hackers and botnets to keep persisting until they can either discover how to break in, or are forced to decide to look for a less secure 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 scan …
(WordPress Security Check Screenshot image: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will display a number of results and details about your site …
(website security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Being able 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 are all useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
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 creator of the BlogDefender security suit began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular site was devoid of content and so had literally no value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within the site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack Paypal account information.
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
This example is evidence that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for potential security holes …
And let’s you easily fix these …
WP Plugins
The product suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides your website with security …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides a range of essential site and file security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans your files and content to detect whether anything unusual in your source code has been changed, and repair the problem …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes a number of videos and PDF/DOC documentation that will show you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Installation Is Easy, Simple And Fast
The plugins install just like any WP plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your administrator area and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow step-by-step training product that will walk you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get things done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits include:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is 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 e-books, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a website is hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, website or blog could get closed by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. And if that isn’t painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender offers many great features to website owners.
The product covers the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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 Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help secure your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Testimonials From Customers
Below are a couple of the testimonials and feedback users have published 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
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since the release of Blog Defender, no websites or blogs using Blog Defender have been hacked.
Matt Garrett, 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 never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information 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 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 risk-free, thirty day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the Blog Defender product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the product retails for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin developer when you visit the website 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 installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use 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 web security.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your security responsibilities are as a site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your website easier.
For full details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Suite
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