The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and this is getting worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot: 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 leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website has nothing to offer to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to benefit or profit at your expense.
If hackers can discover a security flaw that allows them to gain remote control of your web site, your website or blog can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyber attack against larger and more valued sites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are very likely trying to hack into your blog at this very moment. Whether they will achieve this depends on how hard you can make it for hackers or bots to continue trying until they either can work out 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 WordPress Site?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Check Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test will yield various results and details about your WordPress installation …
(WP security scan results. Source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you can freely access all of this information about your WordPress website, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
The ability 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 in your site can be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any potential vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
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 the BlogDefender security suit began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular blog had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
This example shows that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for potential security vulnerabilities …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
Blog Defender comes with three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud-based solutions using different backup methods, perform 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 malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides your site with security …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin performs a range of vital file and site protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
The third plugin allows you to scan your files and content to see if anything unusual in your source code or files has been found, and repair the problem …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes seven step-by-step video training modules and written guides that teach you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below are 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:
Quick Installation
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install just like every WordPress plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a step-by-step training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins to use to get things done inexpensively.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you sell an info product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. As a result, your, websites can get suspended by your webhost, or even deindexed in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers a number of features to site owners.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following areas:
- Hosting 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
- Monitoring Files
- Link Monitoring
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help secure your site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Plugin Users
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have submitted regarding Blog Defender:
”Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re too small or not important enough to be hacked! I’ve found out that I’ve had bots in the backend of my sites, making alterations and changing things around, so there’s no telling what damage they’ve caused. I’ve had my main blog for over 3 years now, and the thought of losing all the hard work I’ve put into it is just devastating, not to mention costly! I have a shared hosting plan, so of course once they can get into one site, they can also access the others. Luckily, I now have the procedures detailed within Blog Defender in place so that I can prevent the majority of this ever happening again. Once you’ve secured one site it gets a lot quicker to secure all subsequent sites. With Blog Defender, you get easy-to-follow videos, along with a detailed checklist that you can downloadf. You are literally walked through the process of securing your blog against hackers, which has given me real peace of mind. This is a growing issue that all website owners are facing; so it isn’t going to go away. Prevention is better than cure, particularly as some of the nastier hacks around can literally ruin your business. So do yourself a favour – get your sites protected now, before it’s too late.” 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 the plugin developer, no sites using Blog Defender were hacked since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012.
Matt 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers currently can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, doesn’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most premium 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, full refund guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
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.
Note: The cost of purchasing Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the software is being retailed for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, 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 simply cannot ignore the importance of securing your site.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WP plugins and themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting security policies such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your sites are hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without costly solutions.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Plugin
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