The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’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 legitimate WordPress 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every web site with a vulnerability can be seen as an opportunity to hackers. A compromised site provides hackers with a platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft.
If a hacker can hack into and gain remote access and control of your website, that website or blog can then be employed as a “bot” to attack more valued web sites.
The harsh reality is that brute-force software bots are probably trying to break into your website or blog at this very moment. Whether they can hack into your site successfully depends on how challenging you will make it for hackers to keep persisting until they can discover how to get access, or give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Screenshot image: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test returns various results and information about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security check results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can see all of this information, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Being able 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 can all be valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about potential vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and protect against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite
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 developer of BlogDefender began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This blog had literally nothing of value 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 within the server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience shows that that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security weaknesses in your WordPress installation are …
And let’s you fix these quickly …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security product includes 3 WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
The plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud storage solutions using a number of backup methods, automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do bulk text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
This plugin performs a range of vital site protection functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your content and files to see whether anything has been modified, and fix problems …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress 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 others benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Video Training
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 step-by-step training modules (video) plus downloadable guides that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like any plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a useful do-it-yourself training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free plugins you should use to get things done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits include:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If you are an info product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site is hacked, you should expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. As a result, your, web presence could get closed by your host, or even deindexed by search engines. In addition, your personal contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender provides a number of features to web site owners.
The product addresses the following security areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- Tracking Links
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps to help protect your site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Below are a few of the testimonials that plugin users have submitted for the Blog Defender product:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”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 the plugin developer, since the release of Blog Defender, no Blog Defender-protected websites were hacked.
The product developer 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 ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most 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, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Price
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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: The price of the Blog Defender software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was correct at the time this article was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the software author when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
What We Recommend
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web site is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WP core files, WordPress plugins and WordPress themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes 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 security risks without paying a lot of money.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Product Suite
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