The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s only going to get 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 reported that 160,000+ WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(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 WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website offers little to no value 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 find a flaw in the security setup that allows them to control your website or blog, your website or blog can then be employed to target more valued sites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are trying to break into your website at this very moment. Whether they will be successful or not, depends on how difficult or easy you will make things for hackers and bots to continue persisting until they can either discover how to get access, or are forced to decide to look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Check Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will display a number of results and information about your website …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security check results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to access all of this information, then hackers can too.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
The ability 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 in your site can be potentially valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Blogs
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 creator of BlogDefender began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by its hosting company. This blog had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place inside his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience illustrates the fact that every website has some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your web site are …
And then shows you how to easily fix these …
WP Plugins
Blog Defender comes with 3 plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud backup solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), perform complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #2 provides a range of website security functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” scans your content and files to detect if any of your files have been altered, and fix problems …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #3 “WordPress 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 work without reciprocating the favor).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 step-by-step training modules (video) and written documentation that show you exactly how to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Here are just some of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Really Easy To Install
The Blog Defender plugins install like any other WP plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a 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 plugins you can install for free to get the job done without incurring unnecessary costs.
Additional plugin benefits include:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Helps Avoid Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell a digital product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. During this time, your, website or blog can get suspended by your host, or even blacklisted by search engines. And if this isn’t painful enough, your personal contacts can be spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender hide your site from hackers and bots.
Blog Defender covers the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- Monitoring Files
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help protect your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Source: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials that users have published about the Blog Defender security suite:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
***
”I sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently. Okay, it was my fault for not securing things more, BUT… I didn’t have a handy, current reference like this to turn to for quick help either.;)” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no websites or blogs using Blog Defender have been hacked.
The product developer 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.”
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 harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many premium 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 risk-free, 30 day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: Pricing details of Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the plugin is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install These Plugins
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
Adopting security procedures such as the one 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 to help prevent your sites being attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress Sites
***
***