The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and things are getting 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 over 160,000+ WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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)
As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website or blog is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to benefit at your expense.
If someone can find a web software vulnerability, your website can then be employed to attack larger and more valued web sites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are very likely trying to break into your website or blog right now. Whether they can break into your site depends on how hard you can make things for hackers and bots to keep persisting until they discover a way to get in, or decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(WordPress Security Scan Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your WordPress installation …
(WP security check results. Source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you can see all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
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 potentially valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about any potential vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the hosting company. This site had literally nothing to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred within the site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience demonstrates 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 fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
WordPress Plugins
Blog Defender comes with three plugins:
The first plugin in the product suite provides automated backups …
(Source: BlogDefender website)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
The plugin provides a range of essential website protection functions (see “Features” section below).
The third plugin scans your content and files to see whether any of your files have been found, and repair the problem …
(Screenshot 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 hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes step-by-step training in video format and written guides that will teach you exactly how to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Easy, Quick And Simple To Install
The Blog Defender plugins are quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP administrator area and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free plugins to install to get things done without paying for additional or unnecessary expenses.
Some additional benefits of using this plugin include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell info products (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Your Host – When a website gets hacked, 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. During this time, your, blog can get closed by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. Additionally, your personal contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender make your your web site invisible to hackers and malicious botnets.
Blog Defender provides fixes for the following issues:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- Monitor Files
- Monitor Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process for securing your your WordPress installation, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky WordPress themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Testimonials
Below are just a few of the testimonials and feedback that plugin users have written about the Blog Defender security products:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” 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
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no Blog Defender-secured websites were hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
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 constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers currently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender 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.
Software 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the software is being retailed for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
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.
Use These Plugins
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you simply cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WP installation, WP 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.
Adopting security policies like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress site easier.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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