The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and this is only going to get 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 reported that over 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Image 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)
According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a vulnerability can be seen as an opportunity to hackers. A compromised website or blog offers malicious users with a platform for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft.
If someone can hack and gain remote control of your website or blog, the website can then be employed as a “bot” to attack other valued websites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are probably trying to break into your blog as you are reading this. Whether they will hack into your site or not, depends on how hard you have made things for hackers or botnets to keep trying until they discover how to get access, or are forced to give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will return a number of results and information about your WordPress installation …
(WP security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you can access all of this information about your website, then hackers can too.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
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 valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious users and botnets.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress 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 blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular site was quite new and had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
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 inside his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to lure visitors to the site and steal financial information.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
This simple example is evidence that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite includes three plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin provides a range of essential site protection functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your content and files to see if anything has been altered, and repair problems …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 providing anything in return).
Blog Defender – Training Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender security product suite also includes a number of step-by-step tutorial videos plus written guides that show you exactly how to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
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 web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use
The Blog Defender plugins install just like every plugin. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a DIY step-by-step training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get things done.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If you are an information product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, blog can be closed by your webhost, or even deindexed in search engines. Additionally, your personal contacts can be spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender was created to keeps your site and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product addresses the following security areas:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- 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
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help secure your web site, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials plugin users have submitted regarding Blog Defender:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.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 the product’s site, since the release of Blog Defender, no websites or blogs protected with the product have been hacked.
Matt 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most 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, 30 day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin Price
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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the Blog Defender software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the product retails for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install The Plugins
No matter what 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 sites.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress core files, plugins and WP themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your security responsibilities are as the site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your site easier.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
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