The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and this is getting worse.
It’s safe to 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 began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress-powered web 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)
As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every web site with a security vulnerability provides some type of opportunity to hackers. A vulnerable blog presents malicious users with a valuable resource for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft.
If a malicious user can discover a weakness in your security that allows them to gain stealth control of your blog, your site can then be used to target larger and more valued websites.
The reality is that hackers are trying to break into your website at this very moment. Whether they can get in successfully or not, depends on how difficult you will make it for hackers or botnets to continue persisting until they either find how to get access, or are forced to decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Website Security Scan Source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check returns various results and information about your website …
(WP security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information about your website, hackers can too.
(Source: Blog Defender)
The ability 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 can be useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about any exploitable security weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress Websites
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This particular blog was devoid of content and so had practically 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 occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive visitors to the site and steal their Paypal account information.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
This simple example should be enough to convince you that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your web site are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
Plugins
The product suite comes with 3 plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods, perform complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your website with security …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
The “WP Security” plugin provides a range of vital file and site security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 lets you scan your WP plugins, themes and WP core files to see whether anything has been modified, and repair any problems detected …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs 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).
Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes step-by-step training in video format plus written documentation that will teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
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:
Installation Is Easy
The Blog Defender plugins are quite easy to install. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator section and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free plugins to use to get things done.
Additional benefits of the plugin include the following:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Theft – If you’re an info product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site has been hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, website or blog can get closed by your host, or even blocked by search engines. And if this is not enough to have to deal with, your contacts could end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender provides many great features to web site owners.
Blog Defender helps you fix the following areas:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help protect your site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Testimonials
Below are just a few of the testimonials and comments that customers have published about Blog Defender:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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“Sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently!” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-protected websites have been hacked since Blog Defender’s first 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 is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers can currently harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress 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 no-risk, 30 day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin 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 cost of purchasing Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the price at the time this review was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software author 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 Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Buy This Product
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and WP themes, 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 vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are compromised, 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 here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
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