The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and the situation is only going to get worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that 160,000+ WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot image: 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)
As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website has nothing to offer to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website provides an opportunity to profit or benefit at your expense.
If hackers can break in and gain remote access and control of your web site, your site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target other highly-valued sites.
The truth is that hackers are trying to break into your website as you are reading this article right now. Whether they will do this successfully or not, depends on how hard you will make it for hackers to continue trying until they either can work out how to get access, or give up and decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(Website Security Check Source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check returns various results and information about your site …
(Hackertarget – website security check results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your site, hackers can too.
(Screenshot source: 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 on your server can all be useful information to hackers, as this can inform them about exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and bots.
Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Blogs
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into. This particular 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 observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside his site, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive visitors to the site and hijack Paypal account information.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for security weaknesses …
And let’s you quickly fix these …
Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud backup solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” performs a range of vital website protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” lets you scan your content and files to see if any code in your files has been changed, and fix the problem …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 others benefit from your content without offering you anything of value in return).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes a number of step-by-step training in video format plus written documentation that show you exactly how to protect your website from hackers …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Below 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:
Fast And Simple To Install And Implement
The plugins install like any plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get things done.
Additional benefits include the following:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protect Your Info Products From Being Freely Distributed – If you sell an information product (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Web Host And Delisted By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, you should expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, website can be suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. And if this is not painful enough, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender make your your WordPress web site invisible to hackers and malicious bots.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WP 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
- Monitor Files
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help protect your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Customers
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have submitted for the Blog Defender security products:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to the product’s site, no sites protected by the product have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release.
Matt Garrett, 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.”
Cybersecurity is is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can currently harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost you 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, thirty day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
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: Pricing for the Blog Defender plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the software is selling for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin 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 current pricing details:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
No matter what kind 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 sites.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like keeping your WP software, plugins and WordPress themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress installation easier.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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