The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and this 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 reported that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
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 sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your site is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites are valuable to a malicious user.
If someone can discover a security vulnerability that allows them to gain stealth control of your blog, the blog can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target larger and more valued websites.
The truth is that hackers are very likely trying to break into your site as you are reading this page right now. Whether they will successfully hack into your site will depend on how difficult or easy you can make it for hackers to continue trying until they discover how to get access, or give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Scan Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns a number of results and information about your website …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, then hackers can too.
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Being able 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 in your site can be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about potentially exploitable security vulnerabilities, especially where the owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and botnets.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress 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 got hacked into. This particular site had literally no value to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that every website has some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your web site are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly, easily and inexpensively …
Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
This plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and popular cloud storage solutions using a number of backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text replacements in databases, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
The second plugin provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides a range of essential file and site protection functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” scans your WordPress plugins, WP themes, WordPress core files and content to see whether any code in your files has been tampered with, and fix any problems detected …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes seven training modules in video format and written documentation that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from hackers …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Be Up And Running In No Time
The plugins install like any other plugin. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugins to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator login and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a practical and useful training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins to install to get things done inexpensively.
Additional benefits of this plugin include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you sell an info product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Deindexed By Search Engines – When a site is hacked, you can expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. Your, website or blog could get suspended by your webhost, or even deindexed in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender hide your web site from hackers and botnets.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Tracking Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps for securing your web site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials plugin users have written about 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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”I discovered some incredible security tricks!” David Walker – www.inboxrockstar.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no websites or blogs using Blog Defender have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release in 2012.
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 constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers can currently get their hands on. The latest release of Blog Defender creates 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 premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender 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, full refund guarantee.
Plugin 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: Price details for this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin developer when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
No matter what kind 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 securing your site.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like keeping your WP core files, WP plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting a security policy such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without paying for costly solutions.
For full details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender
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