The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s 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 160,000+ WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: 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 websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website or blog is of no interest to hackers, but the reality is that every website has some value to a malicious user.
If a malicious user can access and control your blog, the blog can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyberattack against other highly-valued sites.
The harsh reality is that brute-force software bots are looking for weaknesses and trying to break into your web site while you are reading this article right now. Whether they can achieve this or not, depends on how hard or easy you have made it for hackers and bots to continue persisting until they can discover how to get access, or give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(WordPress Security Check Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will yield a number of results and information about your WordPress site …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you can see all of this information about your website, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
The ability to see which version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories can be valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about any security vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender began looking for a way to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into. This site was fairly new and had practically no value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Source: BlogDefender website)
Matt’s experience should be enough to illustrate the fact that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your website are …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud storage solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
The plugin performs a range of site protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans your site to detect whether any of your files have been tampered with, and repair problems …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Training Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 step-by-step video training modules plus downloadable documentation that show you exactly how to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
For more details go here:
Plugin Benefits
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 website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use
The Blog Defender plugins install just like any WordPress plugin. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow step-by-step 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 free WordPress plugins to install to get things done inexpensively.
Additional benefits of using the plugin include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Helps Avoid Intellectual Property Theft – If you are an info product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a site gets hacked, you can expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, web presence could get closed by your host, or even blocked in search engines. Additionally, your contacts can be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Features
Blog Defender was designed to locks down your site and keeps your business safe and secure 24/7.
Blog Defender helps you fix the following issues:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitoring Files
- Tracking Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help protect your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Feedback From Users
Here are some of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about the Blog Defender plugin:
”This is probably one of those times you ask yourself ‘do I really need this product?’ Let’s face it, on the surface it’s not going to immediately put more money in your pocket or even add some cool new gizmo to your site… The truth is yes you do and you need it now. I’ve been in the online business for 10+ years and had my fair share of hacked sites which have cost me time and money (lots of it)…I’ve also seen a good number of people have their reputations and entire businesses left in tatters when their sites have been hacked. Right now is the time to act, because when it’s too late, well basically you’ll be screwed (and you’ll regret the day you passed over such a great opportunity to protect yourself for so little). And by the way, if you think your web host will come to your rescue think again, you’ll be on your own, paying to put things right and suffering the cost of lost sales and business. This is a seriously good product and if you rely on WordPress to make you money online then it’s nothing less than essential. Buy it, follow Matt’s expert advice and don’t end up another victim!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to the product’s website, since Blog Defender was first released in 2012, no Blog Defender-secured websites have been hacked.
Matt 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.”
Cybersecurity is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, won’t cost a fortune 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.
Plugin Price
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.
Please Note: Price details for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current pricing when this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install The Plugins
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot ignore the importance of securing your web site.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, WordPress plugins and themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your sites are attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress
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