The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s only going to get worse.
It’s 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 160,000+ WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Image source: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every blog with a security vulnerability can present an opportunity to hackers. All websites have some value to hackers. Business web sites, personal blogs, government sites … even web sites owned by web security experts can and have been targeted.
If someone can access and gain stealth control of your blog, the website can then be used as a “bot” to attack other highly-valued sites.
The truth is that software-driven bots are most likely trying to hack into your website or blog at this very moment. Whether they can successfully hack into your site depends on how hard or easy you have made it for hackers and botnets to keep trying until they either find a way to get access, or are forced to give up and decide to look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan will return various results and details about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – website security check results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to access all of this information about your WordPress website, so can hackers.
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
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 in your site are all potentially useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about potentially exploitable vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
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 creator of BlogDefender began looking for a way to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by its webhost. This site had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive visitors to the site and steal their financial information.
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
This simple example should be enough to illustrate the fact that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security product suite comes with three plugins:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
The plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud-based solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides WordPress security …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
The “WP Security” plugin performs a range of essential site and file protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” scans your content and files to see if anything in your files has been found, and fix the problem …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without providing any reciprocal value or benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Video Training
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes step-by-step videos plus training guides that show you exactly how to protect your website from malicious users …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
More info:
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 website:
Fast And Simple To Install And Configure
The plugins included with Blog Defender install like every plugin. Just upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a step-by-step training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can use for free to get things done without paying for unnecessary expenses.
Some additional plugin benefits include:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Your Info Products From Being Freely Distributed – If you are an information product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a site is hacked, you should 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. In the meantime, your, website can be closed by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. And if this is not enough to have to deal with, your personal contacts could be spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Features
Blog Defender was designed to lock down your site and keep your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product provides fixes for the following areas:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- Monitor Files
- Tracking Links
- Block Known Offenders
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps for securing your website, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback that users have provided for the Blog Defender plugin:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no Blog Defender-protected sites have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
Matt 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.”
Cybersecurity is an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t require 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.
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, complete money-back guarantee.
Plugin 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: The cost of purchasing the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product retails for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
The Bottom Line
No matter what type 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 very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, plugins and themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress website easier.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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