The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and it’s 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 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: 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)
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 cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your site has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website provides an opportunity to benefit at your expense.
If someone can discover a web software flaw that allows them to take over your website, the blog can then be employed as a “bot” to attack larger and more valuable websites.
The reality is that hackers are most likely looking for security weaknesses and trying to hack into your web site right now. Whether they can hack in successfully depends on how difficult you have made it for hackers and botnets to continue trying until they discover how to get in, or decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and information about your website setup …
(Hackertarget – WP security check 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 about your WordPress website, then so can hackers.
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
The ability to see what 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 useful information to hackers, as this informs them about exploitable vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious users and botnets.
Blog Defender
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 creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This site was new and so had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside the server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal their financial details.
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
This simple example shows that that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for potential security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
WP Plugins
Blog Defender includes three plugins:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do bulk text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides your WP site with security …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
This plugin performs a range of file and site protection functions (see “Features” section below).
The third plugin allows you to scan your site to see whether anything unusual in your files has been tampered with, and repair any problems detected …
(Source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Video Training
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender security product suite also includes a number of step-by-step tutorial videos plus printable documentation that show you exactly how to protect your website from malicious users …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
For more details 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:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins are really easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugins to your Plugin folder via your WP admin user login and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself 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 WordPress plugins you can install for free to get things done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits include:
- Protect your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If you’re a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Your Host – When a website is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, website or blog could get closed by your host, or even deindexed in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details and financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many unique features to WP users.
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
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Monitoring
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps to help secure your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Product image: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have published about Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” 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
Plugin Tips
According to the product’s website, since the release of Blog Defender, no Blog Defender-protected sites 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than many web 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 no-risk, thirty day, full money-back guarantee.
Software 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for the Blog Defender product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price shown above was correct when this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software developer when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price:
Additional Plugin Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
We Recommend
Regardless of the type 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 very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WP software, WP plugins and themes up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security policy such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your responsibilities as a website owner 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 how to avoid all the major WordPress security holes without investing in expensive solutions.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
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