The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and it’s 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 162,000 WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot image: 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 flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website or blog is of little value to hackers, but the reality is that every website has value to a malicious user.
If a malicious user can find a way to break in and remotely control your website, the website can then be employed to target other highly-valued sites.
The truth is that brute-force software bots are most likely trying to hack into your blog right now. Whether they will break into your site successfully will depend on how hard you will make it for hackers and botnets to continue persisting until they can 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?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Check Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will return a number of results and details about your website setup …
(Hackertarget – WP security check results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can access all of this information about your WordPress website, so can hackers.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender website)
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 on your server are all potentially useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about potentially exploitable vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
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 developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the hosting company. This blog had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it still was hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into his site.
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you web site for potential security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
Plugins
The product suite comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud solutions using a number of backup methods, automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to new domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin performs a range of file and site security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 allows you to scan your plugins, themes and core files to see if anything unusual in your files or source code has been modified, and fix problems …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without offering you any reciprocal value in return).
Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender security product suite also includes seven training modules in video format and training documentation that will show you exactly what to do to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
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 site:
Installation Is Easy
The Blog Defender plugins are quite easy to install. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY 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 plugins you can install for free to get things done inexpensively.
Some additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Protect your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you’re a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, you should expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, sites can be closed by your host, or even blocked in search engines. And if this is not enough to have to deal with, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and much more.
Features
Blog Defender hide your WordPress website from hackers and malicious bots.
The product addresses the following areas:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Monitoring Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help protect your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to identify risky WP themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Users
Here are just a few of the testimonials and feedback users have submitted regarding Blog Defender:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to the product’s website, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release in 2012.
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.”
Cybersecurity is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost a fortune 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.
Product 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.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: Pricing details of this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing above was correct when this content was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the product seller when you visit the plugin 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 Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install The Plugins
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your website is something you simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, WordPress plugins and themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without costly solutions.
For full details, visit the plugin website: Blog Defender Security Solution
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