The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and things are getting worse.
You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
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 cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every web site with a security vulnerability can be seen as a potential opportunity to hackers. All websites have value to hackers. Corporate web sites, personal blogs, government websites … even web sites owned by web security and anti-hacking experts can and have been targeted.
If a malicious user can exploit a software vulnerability in your security and gain remote access of your blog, that web site can then be used to target other valuable web sites.
The reality is that malicious bots are most likely looking for security weaknesses and trying to break into your blog at this very moment. Whether they will successfully get into your site or not, depends on how challenging you have made it for hackers to continue trying until they can either find a way to get access, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Check Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan will return various results and details about your site …
(WordPress security check results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to see all of this information about your WordPress site, so can hackers.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Being able 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 are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about any security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the hosting company. This particular site had literally nothing to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of this after being contacted by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred within the server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience should be enough to convince you that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security weaknesses in your website are …
And let’s you fix these quickly and easily …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with 3 plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #2 performs a range of essential site protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
The third plugin lets you scan WordPress sites to see if anything in your files has been altered, and repair any problems it detects …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven step-by-step training modules (video) and training guides that teach you exactly how to protect your site from hackers …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product suite install like every WP plugin. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your admin login and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself training product that will take you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get the job done.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products – If you sell information products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website gets hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, website or blog could get suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. And if this isn’t painful enough, your personal contacts could be spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender was designed to locks down your site and keeps your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product helps you fix the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process 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 security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments plugin users have provided for Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.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’s site, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no Blog Defender-protected websites 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 is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can get their hands on. 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.
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, 30 day, full refund guarantee.
Product Cost
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.
Note: The cost of purchasing the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price when this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product seller 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 Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
We Recommend
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 afford to ignore the importance of website security.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WP plugins and themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your sites are attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your installation easier.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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