The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are getting worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 160,000+ WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your site is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that every website has some value to a malicious user.
If hackers can exploit a way to gain remote control of your blog, that site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target larger and more valuable web sites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are probably looking for weaknesses and trying to break into your website or blog right now. Whether they will achieve this or not, depends on how difficult or easy you can make things for them to continue persisting until they can either work out how to break in, or are forced to give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(WP Security Scan Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will return a number of results and details about your website …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can freely access all of this information about your website, so can hackers.
(Image source: 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 on your server are all valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about potentially exploitable security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Blogs
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This blog was devoid of content and had literally no value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside the server, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack their financial details.
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you fix these quickly …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The product suite includes three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods (including FTP and email backups), perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
The “WP Security” plugin provides a range of vital site and file protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” lets you scan your WordPress plugins, WP themes and core files to detect if any code in your files has been found, and fix any problems it detects …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been inserted into your site files, 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).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes 7 step-by-step video training modules plus written documentation that teach you exactly what to do to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
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:
Ready To Use In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins install like any WordPress plugin. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself step-by-step training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get the job done.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell digital products (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Closed By Your Web Host And Deindexed By Search Engines – When a website is hacked, you should expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, website can get suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. Additionally, your contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender was created to keep your sites and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product covers the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process for securing your website, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image source: Blog Defender)
Testimonials From Plugin Customers
Below are some of the testimonials that plugin customers have provided for the Blog Defender product:
”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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”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
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since Blog Defender was released back in 2012, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs 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.”
The war on hackers is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most 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 risk-free, 30 day, complete refund guarantee.
Product Licensing Cost
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 price of the Blog Defender plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the product is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the product seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your website.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress core files, WP plugins and WordPress themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security policies such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you understand 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 which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress site easier.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress Blogs
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