The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s getting worse.
It’s probably 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 began reporting that 162,000 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(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)
As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your site has nothing to offer to hackers, but the reality is that all websites are valuable to a malicious user.
If a hacker can exploit a flaw in the security system, that website or blog can then be used as a “bot” in a planned cyberattack against larger and more highly-valued web sites.
The truth is that software-driven bots are looking for security weaknesses and trying to break into your website or blog at this very moment. Whether they can achieve this will depend on how challenging you have made things for hackers and bots to continue trying until they can either find how to break in, or decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns various results and details about your website …
(WordPress security check results. Source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, so can hackers.
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
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 all be valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious users and bots.
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 developer of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This blog had practically nothing to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside the server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
This example demonstrates that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security vulnerabilities …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The product suite comes with 3 plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
The plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text string replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
The plugin provides a range of site and file security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” scans your WP site to detect whether code in your files has been modified, and fix any problems found …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
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 people benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes several video training guides and training documentation that show you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers …
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Easy, Quick And Simple To Install
The Blog Defender plugins are really easy to install. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP admin account and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow 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 everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get things done without paying for additional expenses.
Some additional benefits include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you’re an info product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Closed By Your Web Host And Deindexed By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. Your, websites can be suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. Additionally, your personal contacts could end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides many features to site owners.
The product covers the following areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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 Blocking
- Monitoring Files
- Link Monitoring
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps to help secure your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and WP plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Source: Blog Defender)
User Feedback
Below are some of the testimonials users have published about Blog Defender:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no sites using Blog Defender have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release in 2012.
Matt Garrett 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 knowledge and tools developers presently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, won’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 risk-free, 30 day, full refund guarantee.
Software Cost
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.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: Price details for Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the product is selling for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software seller when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Buy This Product
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web site is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WP core files, WordPress plugins and 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 learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress installation easier.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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