The scale 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 your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 160,000+ WordPress-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot image: 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)
According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a vulnerability provides some degree of opportunity to hackers. No website is guaranteed immunity from a cyber attack. Large, medium and small business web sites, personal blogs, government websites … even web sites owned by web security and anti-hacking experts can and have been targeted.
If hackers can exploit a security flaw and remotely control your site, the web site can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target larger and more valued web sites.
The harsh reality is that malicious bots are probably trying to break into your website or blog right now. Whether they can hack in successfully will depend on how hard or easy you have made things for hackers to keep persisting until they can discover how to get access, or give up and decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will yield various results and information about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information about your site, hackers can too.
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
The ability 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 can be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about exploitable vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress
Product Description
The product is a package 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 had been hacked into and suspended. This particular blog was new and so had literally no value to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of this after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within his site, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and steal their Paypal account details.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience should be enough to convince you that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for potential security weaknesses …
And let’s you fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
WordPress Plugins
The product suite comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
The plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), do bulk text string replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
This plugin performs a range of vital file and site protection functions (see “Features” section below).
The third plugin allows you to scan your WP site to see if any code in your files has been tampered with, and fix any problems detected …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Videos
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes 7 video training modules plus PDF/DOC documentation that show you exactly how to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
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 web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install just like any regular WP plugin. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a step-by-step training product that will walk you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins to use to get the job done without paying extra costs.
Additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protect Your Info Products From Being Shared Around The Net – If your site sells an info product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a website gets hacked, you can expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. Your, account could get closed by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. And if this isn’t painful enough, your personal contacts could be spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender hide your WordPress website or blog from hackers and botnets.
The product helps you fix the following issues:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- 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
- Monitor Files
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps for securing your web site, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
User Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials and feedback that customers have submitted for Blog Defender:
”This is probably one of those times you ask yourself ‘do I really need this product?’ Let’s face it, on the surface it’s not going to immediately put more money in your pocket or even add some cool new gizmo to your site… The truth is yes you do and you need it now. I’ve been in the online business for 10+ years and had my fair share of hacked sites which have cost me time and money (lots of it)…I’ve also seen a good number of people have their reputations and entire businesses left in tatters when their sites have been hacked. Right now is the time to act, because when it’s too late, well basically you’ll be screwed (and you’ll regret the day you passed over such a great opportunity to protect yourself for so little). And by the way, if you think your web host will come to your rescue think again, you’ll be on your own, paying to put things right and suffering the cost of lost sales and business. This is a seriously good product and if you rely on WordPress to make you money online then it’s nothing less than essential. Buy it, follow Matt’s expert advice and don’t end up another victim!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”I sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently. Okay, it was my fault for not securing things more, BUT… I didn’t have a handy, current reference like this to turn to for quick help either.;)” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, since the release of Blog Defender, no Blog Defender-protected sites have been hacked.
The product developer 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.”
The war on hackers is is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require 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.
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, 100% refund guarantee.
Software 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: Price details for Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current price at the time this article was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin seller when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of website security.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the process of securing your WordPress website easier.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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