The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and things are getting worse.
It’s 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 160,000+ legitimate WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Image: BlogDefender website)
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 cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog provides no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites provide an opportunity to gain some benefit at your expense.
If someone can hack and compromise the control of your website, the site can then be used as a “bot” to attack other valuable sites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are probably trying to break into your website while you are reading these very words. Whether they can get in successfully or not, depends on how difficult or easy you can make it for hackers to keep trying until they work out a way to get access, or give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Website Security Check Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns various results and information about your website …
(WP security check results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you are able to see all of this information about your WordPress site, then hackers can too.
(Product image: Blog Defender)
The ability to see what 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 useful information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable security 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 website and make your site invisible to malicious users and bots.
Blog Defender Security Product Suite
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by its webhost. This particular blog had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred within the server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack their Paypal account information.
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience shows that that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your WordPress installation are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The product suite comes with 3 plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), schedule full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
This plugin provides a range of vital site and file protection functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 lets you scan your content and files to detect whether any code in your files has been tampered with, and fix any problems detected …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes a number of video guides and training documentation that will show you exactly how to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Product image: BlogDefender site)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here we have listed 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:
Installation Is Easy & Simple
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product suite are very easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your admin user section and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY training product that will walk you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins to install to get things done without paying additional expenses.
Some additional benefits of using this plugin include:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products – If you are an information product author (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Deindexed By Search Engines – When a website gets hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, website or blog can be suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender provides many great features to WP users.
The product addresses the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- Monitor Files
- Link Monitoring
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps to help protect your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Below are just a few of the testimonials and feedback that customers have provided for Blog Defender:
”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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”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since Blog Defender was first released back in 2012, no Blog Defender-protected websites were hacked.
Matt Garrett 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 escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t require 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 risk-free, 30 day, complete money-back guarantee.
Plugin Cost
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.
Please Note: The cost to purchase Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the software is selling for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software seller 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 Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Get The Product
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your security responsibilities are as a website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your site is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without costly solutions.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
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