The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s getting 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 began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Image: 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 WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your site offers little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website provides an opportunity to gain some benefit at your expense.
If someone can find a way to gain stealth control of your site, the website or blog can then be used as a “bot” in a planned cyber-attack against more valued web sites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are probably searching for security exploits and trying to hack into your web site while you are reading this article. Whether they can achieve this or not, will depend on how challenging you will make it for hackers to continue persisting until they can either discover a way to get in, or are forced to give up and 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 a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(WP Security Check Image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check returns a number of results and information about your site setup …
(website security check results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information about your WordPress website, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
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 can all be useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about any vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious users and bots.
Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress
Product Description
The product is a suite 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 blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This blog was quite new and so had practically no value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside the site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience should be enough to convince you that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your WordPress site are …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
WordPress Plugins
The product suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
The plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides WordPress security …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 provides a range of essential site and file protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your files and content to see if anything in your files has been modified, and fix problems …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs 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 providing you anything of value in return).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven step-by-step video tutorial modules plus training documentation that will teach you exactly what to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure
The Blog Defender plugins are really easy to install. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin area and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow DIY training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get the job done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Secure Your Info Products – If you are a digital product author (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Deindexed 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 the issues these have caused. As a result, your, website or blog could be suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender hide your WordPress website or blog from hackers and malicious botnets.
The product provides fixes for the following security areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- 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
- Monitor Files
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help secure your website, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials that users have submitted regarding Blog Defender:
”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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”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
Matt Garrett, the product developer 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.”
The war on hackers is an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers currently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’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.
Blog Defender 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, 30 day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Pricing
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.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: The cost of purchasing the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the software retails for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price set 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 Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your website or blog.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress installation, WP plugins and WP themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you understand what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without costly solutions.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
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