The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.
It’s safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that over 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Screenshot source: 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 WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every blog with a security vulnerability can be seen as an opportunity to hackers. A compromised website or blog presents malicious users with a resource to launch DDoS attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft.
If someone can hack and gain complete control of your web site, that web site can then be employed as a “bot” to attack more valuable sites.
The harsh reality is that hackers are trying to break into your blog right now. Whether they will hack into your site successfully or not, depends on how challenging you can make it for them to continue trying until they discover how to get access, or decide to look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Check Product image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test will display various results and details about your site …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you can freely access all of this information about your WordPress website, then so can hackers.
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Being able 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 are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potential vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This blog was new and so had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within the site, as well as the addition of several malicious files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience shows that that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security holes …
And let’s you easily fix these …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and popular cloud-based solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. FTP), automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), do mass text string replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
The “WordPress Security” plugin provides a range of essential file and site security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” allows you to scan your WordPress plugins, themes and WordPress core files to detect if code in your files has been found, and fix the problem …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Pro Plugin # 3 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 work without offering you any reciprocal benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes seven step-by-step video tutorial modules plus written guides that show you exactly what to do to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Here 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 web site:
Be Up And Running In Very Little Time
The plugins are quite easy to install. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your WP admin login and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should install to get things done inexpensively.
Additional benefits of this plugin include the following:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Stolen – If you sell digital products (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Search Engines – When a website has been hacked, expect to go through a great deal of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. During this time, your, account can get suspended by your host, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, your contacts could end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides a number of features to WP users.
The product helps you fix the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- 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
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help secure your site, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and comments users have submitted regarding Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”Since working with blogs, I… like many others, have been concerned about how to handle the constant threat of blog attacks. After having a look at Blog Defender you can’t help but become most aware of the vulnerable areas all bloggers need to protect. Blog Defender is viable WordPress blog security prevention system that offers video instruction along with 3 software plugins that are free to download. The instruction shows the optimum settings on how to use the free plugins that will allow you top level force against blog hacker attacks.” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs have been hacked since Blog Defender’s first release.
Matt Garrett 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 never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can currently harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than many 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 no-risk, 30 day, 100% refund guarantee.
Software Pricing
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: Price details for the Blog Defender software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the software sells for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the product developer when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details here:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of website security.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and WP themes up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security policies such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security responsibilities are as a website owner, 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 installation easier.
For full details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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