The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and the situation is only going to get 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 reported that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked 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 security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog is of no interest to hackers, but the reality is that all websites have value to a malicious user.
If someone can exploit a security flaw, that website can then be used as a “bot” to attack more valuable websites.
The harsh reality is that malicious bots are probably scouring for exploits and trying to hack into your site while you are reading this at this very moment. Whether they can break into your site successfully depends on how challenging you can make things for hackers and botnets to keep trying until they discover how to get in, or are forced to decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Scan Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will yield a number of results and details about your website setup …
(WordPress security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can see all of this information, so can hackers.
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
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 are all useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious users and botnets.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This blog had literally nothing to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place inside the server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal financial details.
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience should be enough to illustrate the fact that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you fix these quickly and easily …
WordPress Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite includes 3 plugins:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud storage solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), schedule complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your site with security …
(Source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” performs a range of essential site protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your plugins, WordPress themes, WP core files and content to detect if anything in your files has been changed, and fix any problems detected …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Step-By-Step Training Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes several training videos and PDF/DOC guides that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below are just a few of the benefits 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 suite install like every plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a 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 you should use to get things done without incurring additional or unnecessary costs.
Additional benefits include:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you’re an information product author (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Banned By Search Engines – When a website is hacked, you can expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, website can get closed by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, your personal contacts can be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender offers many great features to site owners.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitor Files
- Link Monitoring
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process for securing your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Source: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback customers have published about the Blog Defender security products:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no sites protected by the product have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release.
Matt Garrett 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.”
Cybersecurity is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers presently can harness. 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.
Blog Defender 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 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.
Note: The price of this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the plugin retails for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the software developer when you visit the plugin website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Plugin Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Get This Product
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, 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 a security policy like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities are as a website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your site is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
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