The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and the situation is getting 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 began reporting that 160,000+ WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website 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 security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every site with a vulnerability provides some type of opportunity to hackers. A vulnerable blog provides hackers with a resource to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft.
If a hacker can find a way to gain remote control of your website or blog, your blog can then be employed as a “bot” in a planned cyber-attack against more valued web sites.
The truth is that software-driven bots are trying to break into your site right now. Whether they can do this successfully or not, depends on how hard or easy you have made it for hackers and bots to continue trying until they discover 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 Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Scan Image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan will return various results and information about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – WP security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you are able to access all of this information about your blog, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot 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 are all useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any potential vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Solution
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This site was fairly new and had literally no value to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within his server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Source: BlogDefender website)
Matt’s experience is evidence that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you fix these quickly …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
The plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides your WordPress site with security …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides a range of essential site and file security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your WP plugins, WP themes and core files to detect whether anything unusual has been changed, and repair any problems it detects …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without offering anything in return).
Video Tutorials
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven videos plus written documentation that will show you exactly how to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below 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:
Ready To Use In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins are quite easy to install. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP admin user section and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself step-by-step training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free plugins to use to get things done without incurring additional or unnecessary costs.
Additional benefits include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If you are an information product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Banned By Your Host – When a website is hacked, you should expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. Your, sites could get suspended by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. Additionally, your personal contacts can end up being spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender was designed to keeps your site and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product helps you fix the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Monitoring
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps for securing your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Product image: BlogDefender site)
User Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials plugin customers have published about Blog Defender:
”This is probably one of those times you ask yourself ‘do I really need this product?’ Let’s face it, on the surface it’s not going to immediately put more money in your pocket or even add some cool new gizmo to your site… The truth is yes you do and you need it now. I’ve been in the online business for 10+ years and had my fair share of hacked sites which have cost me time and money (lots of it)…I’ve also seen a good number of people have their reputations and entire businesses left in tatters when their sites have been hacked. Right now is the time to act, because when it’s too late, well basically you’ll be screwed (and you’ll regret the day you passed over such a great opportunity to protect yourself for so little). And by the way, if you think your web host will come to your rescue think again, you’ll be on your own, paying to put things right and suffering the cost of lost sales and business. This is a seriously good product and if you rely on WordPress to make you money online then it’s nothing less than essential. Buy it, follow Matt’s expert advice and don’t end up another victim!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
***
”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, no websites secured by the solution have been hacked since Blog Defender’s first 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 presently can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender 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, 30 day, full money-back 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.
Please Note: Pricing details of the Blog Defender plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this content was published. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress core files, plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your security responsibilities are as a site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your site is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without costly solutions.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite
***
***