The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and the situation is getting worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could your website be next?
(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)
According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your site offers no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website is an opportunity to gain some advantage at your expense.
If hackers can discover a way to gain remote access of your website or blog, your website can then be employed to target more valued websites.
The reality is that hackers are very likely looking for vulnerabilities and trying to hack into your web site at this very moment. Whether they can hack into your site or not, will depend on how hard you have made things for hackers to keep trying until they work out how to break in, or give up and go look for a more vulnerable 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 scan …
(Website Security Check Image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the scan returns a number of results and information about your website setup …
(Hackertarget – WP security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can access all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
The ability 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 in your site are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite 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 developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This site 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 seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience shows that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly …
WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite of products comes with three plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud-based solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WordPress Security” provides your website or blog with security …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 performs a range of file and site protection functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Plugin #3 allows you to scan your content and files to detect if your source code has been altered, and repair any problems it uncovers …
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your content without reciprocating the favor).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven videos plus printable guides that show you exactly how to protect your site from hackers …
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
For more details, visit the plugin site 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 web site:
Installation Is Easy, Fast & Simple
The plugins are really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get things done inexpensively.
Some additional benefits of this plugin include the following:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Helps Avoid Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell digital products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Web Host And Delisted By Search Engines – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. Your, websites can be closed by your webhost, or even blacklisted by search engines. In addition, your contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides many unique features to WordPress users.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following issues:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress 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
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps for securing your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WordPress themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Image source: BlogDefender.com)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and comments that customers have submitted for Blog Defender:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.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 Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs have been hacked since Blog Defender was first released.
Matt Garrett also 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 is a constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, won’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most web 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, 100% money-back guarantee.
Plugin Cost
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.
Note: The cost to purchase the Blog Defender plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the product retails for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin developer when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details here:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
Regardless of the type 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 secure platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress installation, WP plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your site to attacks by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you understand what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without investing in expensive solutions.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Blogs
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