The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and the situation is getting worse.
It’s probably 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 162,000 WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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)
As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every website with a security vulnerability offers some value to hackers. A vulnerable web site offers malicious users with a valuable platform to launch denial of service attacks, spread malware and engage in information theft.
If hackers can discover a web security flaw that allows them to gain access and control of your website, the website or blog can then be used as a “bot” in a planned cyber attack against other highly-valued web sites.
The harsh reality is that brute-force software bots are trying to break into your blog while you are reading this article. Whether they can be successful or not, will depend on how challenging you can make things for hackers to continue persisting until they can find how to get access, or give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Scan Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test will return various results and information about your WordPress installation …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your blog, so can hackers.
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Being able to see what 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 are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about any potential security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, 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 blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This blog had practically 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 noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within his site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack their Paypal account information.
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
This example should be enough to convince you that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security weaknesses in your WordPress site are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly …
Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins
The product suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based solutions using a number of backup methods, schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do mass text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides your website or blog with security …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
The “WP Security” plugin performs a range of website protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your files and content to see if anything unusual in your files has been altered, and repair the problem …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes video guides and training documentation that show you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like every other plugin. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugins to your Plugins folder via your WP admin user account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow training product that will take you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get things done.
Some additional plugin benefits include:
- Secure your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell an information product (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. Your, account can get suspended by your host, or even blocked in search engines. Additionally, your contacts can be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender was designed to keeps your site and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product addresses the following areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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 Blocking
- Monitoring Files
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps for securing your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Product image: BlogDefender.com)
User Testimonials
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments that customers have written about Blog Defender:
”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, since Blog Defender was first released, no websites protected with the solution were 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.”
The war on hackers is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can currently access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost you a fortune 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, thirty day, full refund guarantee.
Software Price
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: Pricing details of Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was current at the time this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress core files, plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your responsibilities are as the site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying a lot of money.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
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