The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s 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 WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every site with a security vulnerability provides some type of opportunity to hackers. No website is completely safe from being attacked by hackers. Business websites, personal blogs, government sites … even web sites owned by web security and anti-hacking experts can and have been targeted.
If hackers can find a way to gain remote control of your site, the website or blog can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more valued sites.
The reality is that malicious bots are very likely trying to break into your website at this very moment. Whether they will get in successfully or not, depends on how challenging you will make things for them to continue trying until they either find a way to get access, or give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(WordPress Security Check Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan will yield a number of results and information about your website …
(Hackertarget – WP security scan results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot source: 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 on your server are all valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender Security Suite
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by its hosting company. This blog had literally no value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within the server, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
This simple example should be enough to illustrate the fact that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you easily fix these …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with three WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and popular cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), schedule full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
The “WordPress Security” plugin provides a range of website security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your WordPress plugins, themes, core files and content to see whether any of your files have been changed, and fix the problem …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender security product suite also includes seven video training modules plus written documentation that show you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Go here to learn more:
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 site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure
The Blog Defender plugins are really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a practical 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 free plugins to use to get things done inexpensively.
Additional benefits of this plugin include the following:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products – If you’re a digital 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 A Nightmare Situation – When a site is hacked, you should expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. During this time, your, site could be suspended by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. Additionally, your contacts can end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many unique features to web site owners.
Blog Defender provides fixes for the following areas:
- Host 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
- File Monitoring
- Monitor Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process for securing your site, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly 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. Product image: BlogDefender website)
Feedback From Customers
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback customers have published about Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
***
”In the past month alone, I’ve had 3 niche blogs hacked, costing me hundreds of dollars in lost sales – all of which could have been avoided if I followed the steps in this training. I can tell you, there’s nothing worse than spending months building up a blog, adding posts every few days, and then finding it all gone in an instant. The great thing about these ‘over the shoulder’ videos is that you get to see exactly how to do everything, so it doesn’t matter if you’re technically challenged. Just copy what you see on the screen, and then relax knowing your blogs are safe. (Just one of the tips in the first video alone could probably have prevented my blogs getting hacked) I even noticed one or two tips in there that help with SEO too … so following these videos could even bring your blogs more traffic!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-protected sites have been hacked since Blog Defender was originally released.
The product developer 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 is a constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers presently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t require 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.
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 money-back guarantee.
Product License 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: Pricing for the Blog Defender product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the software is selling for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software developer when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
No matter what type 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 simple maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress installation, plugins and WordPress themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security procedure like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your website is hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without paying for costly solutions.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Sites
***
***