The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation is only going to get worse.
You can safely 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 160,000+ WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs 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)
According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website or blog provides little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website provides an opportunity to benefit or profit at your expense.
If a malicious user can exploit a way to control your blog, the site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more valued websites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are most likely scouring for security weaknesses and trying to hack into your web site right now. Whether they can be successful will depend on how difficult you can make things for hackers and bots to keep trying until they can discover how to get access, or decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns various results and information about your site …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Being able 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 can all be useful information to hackers, as this informs them about exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This blog had practically nothing to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside his site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack financial information.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience should be enough to illustrate the fact that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your web site are …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud storage solutions using different backup methods, automate complete 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 “WordPress Security” provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin performs a range of vital site and file security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Plugin #3 lets you scan your WordPress plugins, themes, core files and content to detect whether any of your files have been altered, and fix any problems it detects …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without offering you any benefit in return).
Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender WordPress security product suite also includes several video training guides plus PDF/DOC documentation that will teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here 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:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install like any other WP plugin. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a DIY step-by-step training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free plugins to install to get things done.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Secure Your Info Products – If you’re an info product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a site gets hacked, you should expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, websites could get suspended by your host, or even deindexed in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many unique features to WordPress users.
The product addresses the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitor Files
- Link Monitoring
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help protect your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Source: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Plugin Customers
Here are just a few of the testimonials that customers have provided for Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.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, no websites using Blog Defender were hacked since Blog Defender was first released back in 2012.
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.”
The war on hackers is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with 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.
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 no-risk, thirty day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: Pricing details of Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price when this content was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software 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 the current price here:
Additional Plugin Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install These Plugins
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web sites is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress core files, plugins and WP themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your responsibilities are as a website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is 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.
For full details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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