The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this 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 began reporting that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot: 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 attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your site 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 a malicious user can hack and gain remote control of your web site, the blog can then be employed to attack larger and more valuable websites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are probably trying to hack into your site at this very moment. Whether they will successfully break into your site depends on how challenging you can make it for them to continue persisting until they can discover how to get access, or are forced to 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 site through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Check Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check returns a number of results and information about your WordPress installation …
(Hackertarget – website security check results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can access all of this information about your site, hackers can too.
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
The ability to see what version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories in your site are all valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious users and bots.
Blog Defender Security Suite For WordPress
Product Description
Blog Defender 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 blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended. This blog had practically no value to offer, yet it was still attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted 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 malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal their Paypal account details.
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
This example is evidence that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress site for security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you fix these quickly and easily …
WP Plugins
Blog Defender comes with three WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud storage solutions using different backup methods, schedule full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” performs a range of essential website security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” scans your files and content to see whether any of your files have been altered, and fix any problems detected …
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” 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 people benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes a number of training videos plus training documentation that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Implement
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install just like any other plugin. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a practical and useful training product that will guide 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 install to get the job done inexpensively.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Protect your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protect Your Info Products From Being Stolen – 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 Getting Blocked By Your Host – When a website has been 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. As a result, your, account can get closed by your host, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, your contacts can be spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides a number of great features to website owners.
The product helps you fix the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help secure your your WordPress installation, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Source: BlogDefender website)
User Testimonials
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that plugin users have written about Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.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
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett’s site, no websites protected by the solution have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released in 2012.
The product developer 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 an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress 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, thirty day, full refund guarantee.
Software Price
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.. Price = $47.00.
Note: The cost of purchasing this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current pricing when this article was published. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
No matter what kind 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 ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WP installation, plugins and themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security policy such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your site easier.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Product Suite
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