The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, 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 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 160,000+ legitimate WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
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 websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites are valuable to a malicious user.
If a hacker can find a way to break in and gain remote control of your website or blog, your site can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target other highly-valued sites.
The harsh reality is that brute-force software bots are very likely scouring for vulnerabilities and trying to hack into your web site while you are reading this article at this very moment. Whether they will break in will depend on how difficult you can make things for hackers to continue persisting until they discover how to get access, or are forced to give up and go 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 site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Check Screenshot source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test will yield a number of results and information about your WordPress setup …
(WordPress security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you are able to freely access all of this information, hackers can too.
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
The ability 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 can be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about any exploitable security weaknesses, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious users and bots.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress 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 site he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This particular blog was fairly new and had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being informed by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside the server, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
This simple example is evidence that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security holes in your website are …
And let’s you quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
Blog Defender comes with three plugins:
The first plugin in the product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud-based backup solutions using different backup methods (e.g. Email), automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), do bulk text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Source: Blog Defender)
The “WP Security” plugin provides a range of essential file and site protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans your content and files to detect if your source code has been tampered with, and fix any problems found …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Step-By-Step Tutorial Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven videos plus written guides that will teach you exactly what to do to protect your website from malicious users …
(Source: BlogDefender website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Ready To Go To Work In No Time
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product install like any other plugin. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a do-it-yourself training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which WordPress plugins you can use for free to get things done without paying for additional costs.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, 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 your site sells an information product (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, website or blog could get closed by your webhost, or even deindexed by search engines. And if this isn’t enough to have to deal with, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender make your your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets.
The product provides fixes for the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- WordPress 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 Blocking
- Monitoring Files
- Link Monitoring
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process to help secure your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
User Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials customers have submitted for Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no websites or blogs using Blog Defender have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
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.”
Cybersecurity is is a constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can currently access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with 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.
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, 100% refund guarantee.
Software Cost
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 specials being offered. The pricing above was correct when this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use This Product
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 secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP installation, WordPress plugins and WP themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to attacks by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your sites are compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without paying a lot of money.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Sites
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