The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s 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 only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours 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)
As described 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.
You may think that the information in your website or blog offers no value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites have some value to a malicious user.
If a malicious user can hack into and gain control of your site, that site can then be employed to attack more highly-valued sites.
The harsh reality is that malicious bots are very likely scouring for security weaknesses and trying to break into your website or blog as you are reading these very words. Whether they can break into your site successfully depends on how difficult or easy you have made it for hackers to continue persisting until they can either find a way to get access, or are forced to 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 Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Scan Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will yield various results and details about your site …
(Hackertarget – WP security scan results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information, hackers can too.
(Screenshot 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 all be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, 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 by the webhost. This particular blog was fairly new and had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack financial details.
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
This simple example illustrates the fact that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for potential security holes …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
WordPress Plugins
The product suite comes with three plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
This plugin lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud solutions using different backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), do bulk text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
This plugin provides a range of essential website security functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” lets you scan your plugins, themes, WordPress core files and content to detect if anything unusual in your source code or files has been altered, and fix any problems found …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site files, 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 Tutorials
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender security product suite also includes training videos plus downloadable documentation that will show you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Quick And Easy To Install And Use
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install just like any other WP plugin. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin area and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a DIY step-by-step training product that will walk you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get the job done.
Additional plugin benefits include:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you’re an info product author (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website has been hacked, you can expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. As a result, your, website could get closed by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. And if this is not painful enough, your contacts could end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender make your your site invisible to hackers and malicious bots.
Blog Defender helps you fix the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitor Files
- Track Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps for securing your site, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly 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 image: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials that users have submitted 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
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no websites or blogs protected with the product have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
Matt 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers currently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most web 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 no-risk, 30 day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product Price
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: Pricing for the Blog Defender plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was current at the time this article was written. This may not be the actual price set by the product developer when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install The Plugins
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress installation, plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand 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 which tools can make the process of securing your website easier.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Suite
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