The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and this is getting worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Image 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every web site with a vulnerability has some potential value to hackers. A compromised web site presents malicious users with a valuable resource to launch DDoS attacks, spread malware and use your site to steal information from others.
If a hacker can break in and control your site, the blog can then be used to target larger and more highly-valued web sites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are trying to break into your website right now. Whether they can successfully break into your site or not, depends on how hard you can make things for them to continue trying until they can discover how to get access, or give up and go look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Check Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns various results and information about your website …
(Hackertarget – website security check results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information about your WordPress website, then hackers can too.
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
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 can be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any security weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress Sites
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the hosting company. This blog had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within the site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience should be enough to convince you that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins
The Blog Defender security product includes three plugins:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the product suite provides automated backups …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud storage solutions using a number of backup methods, automate complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 performs a range of website security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” allows you to scan your files and content to see whether anything in your files has been modified, and repair any problems it uncovers …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been added to 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).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes seven training modules in video format and training documentation that teach you exactly what to do to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Source: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Installation Is Easy And Quick
The plugins are really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP admin section and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow training product that will walk you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins to install to get the job done without paying extra costs.
Additional benefits of the plugin include:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products From Being Freely Distributed – If your site sells info products (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, website could be suspended by your webhost, or even deindexed in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details and financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many features to WordPress users.
Blog Defender provides fixes for all of the following areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- File Monitoring
- Tracking Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help secure your your WordPress installation, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback that plugin customers have published about Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”Since working with blogs, I… like many others, have been concerned about how to handle the constant threat of blog attacks. After having a look at Blog Defender you can’t help but become most aware of the vulnerable areas all bloggers need to protect. Blog Defender is viable WordPress blog security prevention system that offers video instruction along with 3 software plugins that are free to download. The instruction shows the optimum settings on how to use the free plugins that will allow you top level force against blog hacker attacks.” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no Blog Defender-protected websites 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.”
Cybersecurity is an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers can currently access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Plugin 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, 30 day, full 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: Pricing for the Blog Defender software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price when this content was published. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product seller when you visit the website and you may be shown 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, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use This Product
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your website is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress installation, plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security policy like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, 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, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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