The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, 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 began reporting that 160,000+ WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
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 websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website has nothing to offer to hackers, but the reality is that every website is valuable to a malicious user.
If a hacker can discover a vulnerability, that site can then be used to attack larger and more highly-valued sites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are probably searching for exploits and trying to hack into your web site while you are reading this right now. Whether they will achieve this will depend on how hard you have made it for hackers or botnets to continue persisting until they can discover a way to break in, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Screenshot: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan returns a number of results and details about your site …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security check results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can access all of this information about your blog, hackers can too.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Being able to see which 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 can be valuable information to hackers, as these can inform them about potential security weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite For WordPress
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 site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular blog had practically nothing of value 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 unusual activity had occurred within his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal their financial details.
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience illustrates the fact that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your WordPress site are …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
Plugins
Blog Defender includes three plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Source: Blog Defender)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), schedule complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your site with security …
(Product image: BlogDefender site)
The plugin provides a range of vital file and site protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans your files and content to detect if any of your files have been tampered with, and repair problems …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes a number of step-by-step training videos plus written documentation that teach you exactly what to do to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use
The plugins are very easy to install. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY step-by-step training product that will take you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can install for free to get things done inexpensively.
Additional benefits include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Theft – If you sell digital products (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Deindexed By Search Engines – When a website has been hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, blog can be closed by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender offers many features to website owners.
The product helps you fix all of the following security areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- 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 Monitoring
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help protect your your WordPress installation, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image source: Blog Defender)
User Feedback
Here are a couple of the testimonials that customers have submitted regarding the Blog Defender plugin:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since Blog Defender was first released in 2012, no sites secured with the solution were hacked.
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.”
The war on hackers is an escalating arms race 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 WordPress security solution that doesn’t need 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.
Plugin 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, full money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
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.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the product is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software developer when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information here:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of website security.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes 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 website easier.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress Web Sites
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