The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s getting worse.
You can safely 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 legitimate WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked 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)
According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every site with a security vulnerability has value to hackers. A compromised blog presents malicious users with a valuable resource for launching denial of service attacks, spreading malware and to engage in information theft.
If someone can find a software security flaw that allows them to access and control your website, that blog can then be used to attack more valuable web sites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are scouring for security exploits and trying to break into your site while you are reading this. Whether they will break into your site successfully or not, depends on how difficult you will make things for hackers or botnets to keep trying until they discover how to get access, or decide to look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Scan Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your website …
(WordPress security scan results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to access all of this information about your site, so can hackers.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender site)
Being able to see which 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 can all be potentially useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about any exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by its hosting company. This site was devoid of content and so had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside his server, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack their financial details.
(Source: Blog Defender)
This simple example illustrates the fact that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to quickly fix these …
WordPress Plugins
Blog Defender comes with 3 plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud-based solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
This plugin provides a range of essential site and file protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your content and files to see whether anything unusual in your files or source code has been altered, and fix problems …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress 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 work without reciprocating the favor).
Video Training
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes seven video tutorial modules and PDF/DOC documentation that will show you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from hackers and bots …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The plugins install just like every plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your admin user account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a DIY step-by-step training product that guides 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 use to get the job done without paying for additional or unnecessary expenses.
Some additional benefits include:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If you sell information products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. During this time, your, sites can be suspended by your webhost, or even deindexed in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many great features to WP users.
The product helps you fix all of the following issues:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- 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
- File Monitoring
- Link Monitoring
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help protect your web site, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Feedback From Users
Below are a couple of the testimonials that users have submitted regarding the Blog Defender plugin:
”Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re too small or not important enough to be hacked! I’ve found out that I’ve had bots in the backend of my sites, making alterations and changing things around, so there’s no telling what damage they’ve caused. I’ve had my main blog for over 3 years now, and the thought of losing all the hard work I’ve put into it is just devastating, not to mention costly! I have a shared hosting plan, so of course once they can get into one site, they can also access the others. Luckily, I now have the procedures detailed within Blog Defender in place so that I can prevent the majority of this ever happening again. Once you’ve secured one site it gets a lot quicker to secure all subsequent sites. With Blog Defender, you get easy-to-follow videos, along with a detailed checklist that you can downloadf. You are literally walked through the process of securing your blog against hackers, which has given me real peace of mind. This is a growing issue that all website owners are facing; so it isn’t going to go away. Prevention is better than cure, particularly as some of the nastier hacks around can literally ruin your business. So do yourself a favour – get your sites protected now, before it’s too late.” 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
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, since Blog Defender was first released back in 2012, no Blog Defender-protected sites have been hacked.
Matt Garrett, the product developer 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 that developers can get their hands on. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’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.
Plugin 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, complete refund guarantee.
Software Pricing
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 Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the product is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software 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 current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your sites is something you cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, WordPress plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your responsibilities are as the site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without costly solutions.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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