The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world 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 162,000 WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
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 leading 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.
You may think that the information in your website offers little to no value to hackers, but the reality is that every website is valuable to a malicious user.
If someone can hack and control your site, that website or blog can then be used to target other highly-valued sites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are probably scouring for exploits and trying to break into your web site at this very moment. Whether they can be successful or not, will depend on how difficult or easy you can make things for hackers to continue persisting until they can discover a way to get access, or give up and decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will display various results and information about your WordPress site …
(WP security check results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can access all of this information about your WordPress website, so can hackers.
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Being able 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 on your server are all valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about potentially exploitable vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and protect against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
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 the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This site 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 observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place inside the server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
This example shows that that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for potential security weaknesses …
And let’s you fix these quickly and easily …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite includes three WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud storage solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. FTP), automate complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
The “WordPress Security” plugin provides a range of essential file and site protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your web site to detect whether any of your files have been tampered with, and fix any problems it detects …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Step-By-Step Training Videos
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes step-by-step video tutorials and written guides that teach you exactly how to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Installation Is Easy & Fast
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product suite are quite easy to install. Just upload a zip file containing the plugins to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a do-it-yourself step-by-step training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should install to get the job done without paying for extra costs.
Some additional benefits include:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you’re a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free download sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Your Host – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, sites can get closed by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. In addition, your 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 more.
Features
Blog Defender hide your website or blog from hackers and bots.
The product addresses the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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 Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Monitor Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help protect your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin users have submitted for Blog Defender:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”My business is built around the WordPress platform and I’m embarrassed to admin I’ve been slack in the security department. However, Matt’s training soon put that right! I followed each detailed video to the letter and discovered some incredible security tricks and plugins I’d never heard of before. Better still, all the plugins were free to download too! The end result? My WordPress membership site is now locked down tighter than Parkhurst at midnight and if anybody tries hacking it, I’ll be the first to know! thanks again Matt, I’m off to secure the rest of the blogs in my portfolio!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, since Blog Defender was first released in 2012, no Blog Defender-secured websites or blogs were hacked.
Matt Garrett states on his site …
“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 constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers currently can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many 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, full refund 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.
Please Note: Price details for the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing when this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin author 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 current pricing details:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use This Product
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of web security.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress software, WP plugins and WordPress themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
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 website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress site easier.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution
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