The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and the situation is only going to get worse.
It’s 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 reported that over 162,000 WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Could your website 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 described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your site has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites provide an opportunity to profit or benefit at your expense.
If someone can discover a security opening that lets them gain remote access and control of your site, that web site can then be used to target larger and more valuable websites.
The harsh reality is that malicious bots are most likely trying to break into your site as you are reading this page right now. Whether they can get in or not, depends on how difficult or easy you can make things for hackers to keep trying until they work out how to get access, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a less protected 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 …
(WP Security Scan Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the check will yield a number of results and information about your site setup …
(WordPress security scan results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, hackers can too.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Being able 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 are all valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about any exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
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 particular blog had practically no value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had taken place within his server, as well as the addition of several malicious files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Source: Blog Defender)
This simple example provides the valuable lesson that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your WordPress installation are …
And let’s you quickly fix these …
Plugins
The product suite includes three WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods, schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” performs a range of vital website protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your plugins, themes, core files and content to see if anything has been tampered with, and repair problems …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without providing anything of value in return).
Blog Defender – Training Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes training in video format and PDF/DOC documentation that will show you exactly how to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement
The Blog Defender plugins install just like every other WordPress plugin. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself step-by-step training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins to install to get the job done without paying extra expenses.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you’re a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a site has been hacked, you can expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, blog could be suspended by your host, or even blocked by search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides many great features to web site owners.
The product helps you fix all of the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- 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
- Monitor Files
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help secure your website, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Image source: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Plugin Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials customers have provided for the Blog Defender solution:
”This is a seriously good product!” 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
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no websites or blogs using Blog Defender were hacked since Blog Defender’s release.
Matt Garrett also 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 never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers currently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Product 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, thirty day, full money-back 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: Price details for Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the product retails for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the product author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
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 securing your website or blog.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps 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 hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress installation easier.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Web Sites
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